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diff --git a/9324.txt b/9324.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..b1a7908 --- /dev/null +++ b/9324.txt @@ -0,0 +1,10317 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of Roden's Corner, by Henry Seton Merriman + +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: Roden's Corner + +Author: Henry Seton Merriman + + +Release Date: November, 2005 [EBook #9324] +This file was first posted on September 22, 2003 +Last Updated: May 5, 2013 + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK RODEN'S CORNER *** + + + + +Produced by Jonathan Ingram, Jayam Subramanian, and PG +Distributed Proofreaders + + + + + + + + +RODEN'S CORNER + +By Henry Seton Merriman + +1913 + + + "'Tis all a Chequer-board of Nights and Days + Where Destiny with Men for Pieces plays: + Hither and thither moves, and mates, and slays, + And one by one back in the Closet lays" + + +CONTENTS + + +CHAPTER + +I. IN ST. JACOB STRAAT + +II. WORK OK PLAY? + +III. BEGINNING AT HOME + +IV. A NEW DISCIPLE + +V. OUT OF EGYPT + +VI. ON THE DUNES + +VII. OFFICIAL + +VIII. THE SEAMY SIDE + +IX. A SHADOW FROM THE PAST + +X. DEEPER WATER + +XI. IN THE OUDE WEG + +XII. SUBURBAN + +XIII. THE MAKING OF A MAN + +XIV. UNSOUND + +XV. PLAIN SPEAKING + +XVI. DANGER + +XVII. PLAIN SPEAKING + +XVIII. A COMPLICATION + +XIX. DANGER + +XX. FROM THE PAST + +XXI. A COMBINED FORCE + +XXII. GRATITUDE + +XXIII. A REINFORCEMENT + +XXIV. A BRIGHT AND SHINING LIGHT + +XXV. CLEARING THE AIR + +XXVI. THE ULTIMATUM + +XXVII. COMMERCE + +XXVIII. WITH CARE + +XXIX. A LESSON + +XXX. ON THE QUEEN'S CANAL + +XXXI. AT THE CORNER + +XXXII. ROUND THE CORNER + + + + + +CHAPTER I. + +IN ST. JACOB STRAAT. + +"The Tree of Knowledge is not that of Life." + + +"It is the Professor von Holzen," said a stout woman who still keeps +the egg and butter shop at the corner of St. Jacob Straat in The Hague; +she is a Jewess, as, indeed, are most of the denizens of St. Jacob +Straat and its neighbour, Bezem Straat, where the fruit-sellers +live--"it is the Professor von Holzen, who passes this way once or +twice a week. He is a good man." + +"His coat is of a good cloth," answered her customer, a young man with +a melancholy dark eye and a racial appreciation of the material things +of this world. + +Some say that it is not wise to pass through St. Jacob Straat or Bezem +Straat alone and after nightfall, for there are lurking forms within +the doorways, and shuffling feet may be heard in the many passages. +During the daytime the passer-by will, if he looks up quickly enough, +see furtive faces at the windows, of men, and more especially of women, +who never seem to come abroad, but pass their lives behind those +unwashed curtains, with carefully closed windows, and in an atmosphere +which may be faintly imagined by a glance at the wares in the shop +below. The pavement of St. Jacob Straat is also pressed into the +service of that commerce in old metal and damaged domestic utensils +which seems to enable thousands of the accursed people to live and +thrive according to their lights. It will be observed that the vendors, +with a knowledge of human nature doubtless bred of experience, only +expose upon the pavement articles such as bedsteads, stoves, and other +heavy ware which may not be snatched up by the fleet of foot. Within +the shops are crowded clothes and books and a thousand miscellaneous +effects of small value. A hush seems to hang over this street. Even the +children, white-faced and melancholy, with deep expressionless eyes and +drooping noses, seem to have realized too soon the gravity of life, and +rarely indulge in games. + +He whom the butter-merchant described as Professor von Holzen passed +quickly along the middle of the street, with an air suggesting a desire +to attract as little attention as possible. He was a heavy-shouldered +man with a bad mouth--a greedy mouth, one would think--and mild eyes. +The month was September, and the professor wore a thin black overcoat +closely buttoned across his broad chest. He carried a pair of +slate-coloured gloves and an umbrella. His whole appearance bespoke +learning and middle-class respectability. It is, after all, no use +being learned without looking learned, and Professor von Holzen took +care to dress according to his station in life. His attitude towards +the world seemed to say, "Leave me alone and I will not trouble you," +which is, after all, as satisfactory an attitude as may be desired. It +is, at all events, better than the common attitude of the many, that +says, "Let us exchange confidences," leading to the barter of two +valueless commodities. + +The professor stopped at the door of No. 15, St. Jacob Straat--one of +the oldest houses in this old street--and slowly lighted a cigar. There +is a shop on the ground-floor of No. 15, where ancient pieces of +stove-pipe and a few fire-irons are exposed for sale. Von Holzen, +having pushed open the door, stood waiting at the foot of a narrow and +grimy staircase. He knew that in such a shop in such a quarter of the +town there is always a human spider lurking in the background, who +steals out upon any human fly that may pause to look at the wares. + +This spider presently appeared--a wizened woman with a face like that +of a witch. Von Holzen pointed upward to the room above them. She shook +her head regretfully. + +"Still alive," she said. + +And the professor turned toward the stair, but paused at the bottom +step. + +"Here," he said, extending his fingers. "Some milk. How much has he +had?" + +"Two jugs," she replied, "and three jugs of water. One would say he has +a fire inside him." + +"So he has," said the professor, with a grim smile, as he went +upstairs. He ascended slowly, puffing out the smoke of his cigar before +him with a certain skill, so that his progress was a form of +fumigation. The fear of infection is the only fear to which men will +own, and it is hard to understand why this form of cowardice should be +less despicable than others. Von Holzen was a German, and that nation +combines courage with so deep a caution that mistaken persons sometimes +think the former adjunct lacking. The mark of a wound across his cheek +told that in his student days this man had, after due deliberation, +considered it necessary to fight. Some, looking at Von Holzen's face, +might wonder what mark the other student bore as a memento of that +encounter. + +Von Holzen pushed open a door that stood ajar at the head of the stair, +and went slowly into the room, preceded by a puff of smoke. The place +was not full of furniture, properly speaking, although it was littered +with many household effects which had no business in a bedroom. It was, +indeed, used as a storehouse for such wares as the proprietor of the +shop only offered to a chosen few. The atmosphere of the room must have +been a very Tower of Babel, where strange foreign bacilli from all +parts of the world rose up and wrangled in the air. + +Upon a sham Empire table, _tres antique_, near the window, stood three +water-jugs and a glass of imitation Venetian work. A yellow hand +stretching from a dark heap of bedclothes clutched the glass and held +it out, empty, when Von Holzen came into the room. + +"I have sent for milk," said the professor, smoking hard, and heedful +not to look too closely into the dark corner where the bed was +situated. + +"You are kind," said a voice, and it was impossible to guess whether +its tone was sarcastic or grateful. + +Von Holzen looked at the empty water-jugs with a smile, and shrugged +his shoulders. His intention had perhaps been a kind one. A bad mouth +usually indicates a soft heart. + +"It is because you have something to gain," said the hollow voice from +the bed. + +"I have something to gain, but I can do without it," replied Von +Holzen, turning to the door and taking a jug of milk from the hand of a +child waiting there. + +"And the change," he said sharply. + +The child laughed cunningly, and held out two small copper coins of the +value of half a cent. + +Von Holzen filled the tumbler and handed it to the sick man, who a +moment later held it out empty. + +"You may have as much as you like," said Von Holzen, kindly. + +"Will it keep me alive?" + +"Nothing can do that, my friend," answered Von Holzen. He looked down +at the yellow face peering at him from the darkness. It seemed to be +the face of a very aged man, with eyes wide open and blood-shot. A +thickness of speech was accounted for by the absence of teeth. + +The man laughed gleefully. "All the same, I have lived longer than any +of them," he said. How many of us pride ourselves upon possessing an +advantage which others never covet! + +"Yes," answered Von Holzen, gravely. "How old are you?" + +"Nearly thirty-five," was the answer. + +Von Holzen nodded, and, turning on his heel, looked thoughtfully out of +the window. The light fell full on his face, which would have been a +fine one were the mouth hidden. The eyes were dark and steady. A high +forehead looked higher by reason of a growth of thick hair standing +nearly an inch upright from the scalp, like the fur of a beaver in +life, without curl or ripple. The chin was long and pointed. A face, +this, that any would turn to look at again. One would think that such +a man would get on in the world. But none may judge of another in this +respect. It is a strange fact that intimacy with any who has made for +himself a great name leads to the inevitable conclusion that he is +unworthy of it. + +"Wonderful!" murmured Von Holzen--"wonderful! Nearly thirty-five!" And +it was hard to say what his thoughts really were. The only sound that +came from the bed was the sound of drinking. + +"And I know more about the trade than any, for I was brought up to it +from boyhood," said the dying man, with an uncanny bravado. "I did not +wait until I was driven to it, like most." + +"Yes, you were skilful, as I have been told." + +"Not all skill--not all skill," piped the metallic voice, indistinctly. +"There was knowledge also." + +Von Holzen, standing with his hands in the pockets of his thin +overcoat, shrugged his shoulders. They had arrived by an +oft-trodden path to an ancient point of divergence. Presently Von +Holzen turned and went towards the bed. The yellow hand and arm lay +stretched out across the table, and Holzen's finger softly found the +pulse. + +"You are weaker," he said. "It is only right that I should tell you." + +The man did not answer, but lay back, breathing quickly. Something +seemed to catch in his throat. Von Holzen went to the door, and furtive +steps moved away down the dark staircase. + +"Go," he said authoritatively, "for the doctor, at once." Then he came +back towards the bed. "Will you take my price?" he said to its +occupant. "I offer it to you for the last time." + +"A thousand gulden?" + +"Yes." + +"It is too little money," replied the dying man. "Make it twelve +hundred." + +Von Holzen turned away to the window again thoughtfully. A silence +seemed to have fallen over the busy streets, to fill the untidy room. +The angel of death, not for the first time, found himself in company +with the greed of men. + +"I will do that," said Von Holzen at length, "as you are dying." + +"Have you the money with you?" + +"Yes." + +"Ah!" said the dying man, regretfully. It was only natural, perhaps, +that he was sorry that he had not asked more. "Sit down," he said, "and +write." + +Von Holzen did as he was bidden. He had also a pocket-book and pencil +in readiness. Slowly, as if drawing from the depths of a long-stored +memory, the dying man dictated a prescription in a mixture of dog-Latin +and Dutch, which his hearer seemed to understand readily enough. The +money, in dull-coloured notes, lay on the table before the writer. The +prescription was a long one, covering many pages of the note-book, and +the particulars as to preparation and temperature of the various liquid +ingredients filled up another two pages. + +"There," said the dying man at length, "I have treated you fairly. I +have told you all I know. Give me the money." + +Von Holzen crossed the room and placed the notes within the yellow +fingers, which closed over them. + +"Ah," said the recipient, "I have had more than that in my hand. I was +rich once, and I spent it all in Amsterdam. Now read over your writing. +I will treat you fairly." + +Von Holzen stood by the window and read aloud from his book. + +"Yes," said the other. "One sees that you took your diploma at Leyden. +You have made no mistake." + +Von Holzen closed the book and replaced it in his pocket. His face bore +no sign of exultation. His somewhat phlegmatic calm successfully +concealed the fact that he had at last obtained information which he +had long sought. A cart rattled past over the cobble-stones, making +speech inaudible for the moment. The man moved uneasily on the bed. Von +Holzen went towards him and poured out more milk. Instead of reaching +out for it, the sick man's hand lay on the coverlet. The notes were +tightly held by three fingers; the free finger and the thumb picked at +the counterpane. Von Holzen bent over the bed and examined the face. +The sick man's eyes were closed. Suddenly he spoke in a mumbling +voice--"And now that you have what you want, you will go." + +"No," answered Von Holzen, in a kind voice, "I will not do that. I will +stay with you if you do not want to be left alone. You are brave, at +all events. I shall be horribly afraid when it comes to my turn to +die." + +"You would not be afraid if you had lived a life such as mine. Death +cannot be worse, at all events." And the man laughed contentedly +enough, as one who, having passed through evil days, sees the end of +them at last. + +Von Holzen made no answer. He went to the window and opened it, letting +in the air laden with the clean scent of burning peat, which makes the +atmosphere of The Hague unlike that of any other town; for here is a +city with the smell of a village in its busy streets. The German +scientist stood looking out, and into the room came again that strange +silence. It was an odd room in which to die, for every article in it +was what is known as an antiquity; and although some of these relics of +the past had been carefully manufactured in a back shop in Bezem +Straat, others were really of ancient date. The very glass from which +the dying man drank his milk dated from the glorious days of Holland +when William the Silent pitted his Northern stubbornness and deep +diplomacy against the fire and fanaticism of Alva. Many objects in the +room had a story, had been in the daily use of hands long since +vanished, could tell the history of half a dozen human lives lived out +and now forgotten. The air itself smelt of age and mouldering memories. + +Von Holzen came towards the bed without speaking, and stood looking +down. Never a talkative man, he was now further silenced by the shadow +that lay over the stricken face of his companion. The sick man was +breathing very slowly. He glanced at Von Holzen for a moment, and then +returned to the dull contemplation of the opposite wall. Quite suddenly +his breath caught. There were long pauses during which he seemed to +cease to breathe. Then at length followed a pause which merged itself +gently into eternity. + +Von Holzen waited a few minutes, and then bent over the bed and softly +unclasped the dead man's hand, taking from it the crumpled notes. +Mechanically he counted them, twelve hundred gulden in all, and +restored them to the pocket from which he had taken them half an hour +earlier. + +He walked to the window and waited. When at length the district doctor +arrived, Von Holzen turned to greet him with a stiff bow. + +"I am afraid, Herr Doctor," he said, in German, "You are too late." + + + + +CHAPTER II + +WORK OR PLAY? + + "Get work, get work; + Be sure 'tis better than what you work to get." + + +Two men were driving in a hansom cab westward through Cockspur Street. +One, a large individual of a bovine placidity, wore the Queen's +uniform, and carried himself with a solid dignity faintly suggestive of +a lighthouse. The other, a narrower man, with a keen, fair face and +eyes that had an habitual smile, wore another uniform--that of society. +He was well dressed, and, what is rarer carried his fine clothes with +such assurance that their fineness seemed not only natural but +indispensable. + +"Sic transit the glory of this world," he was saying. At this moment +three men on the pavement--the usual men on the pavement at such +times--turned and looked into the cab. + +"'Ere's White!" cried one of them. "White--dash his eyes! Brayvo! +brayvo, White!" + +And all three raised a shout which seemed to be taken up vaguely in +various parts of Trafalgar Square, and finally died away in the +distance. + +"That is it," said the young man in the frock-coat; "that is the glory +of this world. Listen to it passing away. There is a policeman touching +his helmet. Ah, what a thing it is to be Major White--to-day! +To morrow--_bonjour la gloire_!" + +Major White, who had dropped his single eye-glass a minute earlier, sat +squarely looking out upon the world with a mild surprise. The eye from +which the glass had fallen was even more surprised than the other. But +this, it seemed, was a man upon whom the passing world made, as a rule, +but a passing impression. His attitude towards it was one of dense +tolerance. He was, in fact, one of those men who usually allow their +neighbours to live in a fool's-paradise, based upon the assumption of a +blindness or a stupidity or an indifference, which may or may not be +justified by subsequent events. + +This was, as Tony Cornish, his companion, had hinted, _the_ White of +the moment. Just as the reader may be the Jones or the Tomkins of the +moment if his soul thirst for glory. Crime and novel-writing are the +two broad roads to notoriety, but Major White had practiced neither +felony nor fiction. He had merely attended to his own and his country's +business in a solid, common-sense way in one of those obscure and tight +places into which the British officer frequently finds himself forced +by the unwieldiness of the empire or the indiscretion of an +effervescent press. + +That he had extricated himself and his command from the tight place, +with much glory to themselves and an increased burden to the cares of +the Colonial Office, was a fact which a grateful country was at this +moment doing its best to recognize. That the authorities and those who +knew him could not explain how he had done it any more than he himself +could, was another fact which troubled him as little. Major White was +wise in that he did not attempt to explain. + +"That sort of thing," he said, "generally comes right in the end." And +the affair may thus be consigned to that pigeon-hole of the past in +which are filed for future reference cases where brilliant men have +failed and unlikely ones have covered themselves with sudden and +transient glory. + +There had been a review of the troops that had taken part in a short +and satisfactory expedition of which, by what is usually called a lucky +chance, White found himself the hero. He was not of the material of +which heroes are made; but that did not matter. The world will take a +man and make a hero of him without pausing to inquire of what stuff he +may be. Nay, more, it will take a man's name and glorify it without so +much as inquiring to what manner of person the name belongs. + +Tony Cornish, who went everywhere and saw everything, was of course +present at the review, and knew all the best people there. He passed +from carriage to carriage in his smart way, saying the right thing to +the right people in the right words, failing to see the wrong people +quite in the best manner, and conscious of the fact that none could +surpass him. Then suddenly, roused to a higher manhood by the tramp of +steady feet, by the sight of his lifelong friend White riding at the +head of his tanned warriors, this social success forgot himself. He +waved his silk hat and shouted himself hoarse, as did the honest +plumber at his side. + +"That's better work than yours nor mine, mister," said the plumber, +when the troops were gone; and Tony admitted, with his ready smile, +that it was so. A few minutes later Tony found Major White solemnly +staring at a small crowd, which as solemnly stared back at him, on the +pavement in front of the Horse Guards. + +"Here, I have a cab waiting for me," he had said; and White followed +him with a mildly bewildered patience, pushing his way gently through +the crowd as through a herd of oxen. + +He made no comment, and if he heard sundry whispers of "That's 'im," he +was not unduly elated. In the cab he sat bolt upright, looking as if +his tunic was too tight, as in all probability it was. The day was hot, +and after a few jerks he extracted a pocket-handkerchief from his +sleeve. + +"Where are you going?" he asked. + +"Well, I was going to Cambridge Terrace. Joan sent me a card this +morning saying that she wanted to see me," explained Tony Cornish. He +was a young man who seemed always busy. His long thin legs moved +quickly, he spoke quickly, and had a rapid glance. There was a +suggestion of superficial haste about him. For an idle man, he had +remarkably little time on his hands. + +White took up his eye-glass, examined it with short-sighted +earnestness, and screwed it solemnly into his eye. + +"Cambridge Terrace?" he said, and stared in front of him. + +"Yes. Have you seen the Ferribys since your glorious return to +these--er--shores?" As he spoke, Cornish gave only half of his +attention. He knew so many people that Piccadilly was a work of +considerable effort, and it is difficult to bow gracefully from a +hansom cab. + +"Can't say I have." + +"Then come in and see them now. We shall find only Joan at home, and +she will not mind your fine feathers or the dust and circumstance of +war upon your boots. Lady Ferriby will be sneaking about in the +direction of Edgware Road--fish is nearly two pence a pound cheaper +there, I understand. My respected uncle is sure to be sunning his +waistcoat in Piccadilly. Yes, there he is. Isn't he splendid? How do, +uncle?" and Cornish waved a grey Suede glove with a gay nod. + +"How are the Ferribys?" inquired Major White, who belonged to the curt +school. + +"Oh, they seem to be well. Uncle is full of that charity which at all +events has its headquarters in the home counties. Aunt--well, aunt is +saving money." + +"And Miss Ferriby?" inquired White, looking straight in front of him. + +Cornish glanced quickly at his companion. "Oh, Joan?" he answered. "She +is all right. Full of energy, you know--all the fads in their courses." + +"You get 'em too." + +"Oh yes; I get them too. Buttonholes come and buttonholes go. Have you +noticed it? They get large. Neapolitan violets all over your left +shoulder one day, and no flowers at all the week after." Cornish spoke +with a gravity befitting the subject. He was, it seemed a student of +human nature in his way. "Of course," he added, laying an impressive +forefinger on White's gold-laced cuff, "it would never do if the world +remained stationary." + +"Never," said the major, darkly. "Never." + +They were talking to pass the time. Joan Ferriby had come between them, +as a woman is bound to come between two men sooner or later. Neither +knew what the other thought of Joan Ferriby, or if he thought of her at +all. Women, it is to be believed, have a pleasant way of mentioning the +name of a man with such significance that one of their party changes +colour. When next she meets that man she does it again, and perhaps he +sees it, and perhaps his vanity, always on the alert, magnifies that +unfortunate blush. And they are married, and live unhappily ever +afterwards. And--let us hope there is a hell for gossips. But men are +different in their procedure. They are awkward and _gauche_. They talk +of newspaper matters, and on the whole there is less harm done. + +The hansom cab containing these two men pulled up jerkily at the door +of No. 9, Cambridge Terrace. Tony Cornish hurried to the door, and rang +the bell as if he knew it well. Major White followed him stiffly. They +were ushered into a library on the ground floor, and were there +received by a young lady, who, pen in hand, sat at a large table +littered with newspaper wrappers. + +"I am addressing the Haberdashers' Assistants," she said, "but I am +very glad to see you." + +Miss Joan Ferriby was one of those happy persons who never know a +doubt. One must, it seems, be young to enjoy this nineteenth-century +immunity. One must be pretty--it is, at all events, better to be +pretty--and one must dress well. A little knowledge of the world, a +decisive way of stating what pass at the moment for facts, a quick +manner of speaking--and the rest comes _tout seul_. This cocksureness +is in the atmosphere of the day, just as fainting and curls and an +appealing helplessness were in the atmosphere of an earlier Victorian +period. + +Miss Ferriby stood, pen in hand, and laughed at the confusion on the +table in front of her. She was eminently practical, and quite without +that self-consciousness which in a bygone day took the irritating form +of coyness. Major White, with whom she shook hands _en camarade_, gazed +at her solemnly. + +"Who are the Haberdashers' Assistants?" he asked. + +Miss Ferriby sat down with a grave face. "Oh, it is a splendid +charity," she answered. "Tony will tell you all about it. It is an +association of which the object is to induce people to give up riding +on Saturday afternoons, and to lend their bicycles to haberdashers' +assistants who cannot afford to buy them for themselves. Papa is +patron." + +Cornish looked quickly from one to the other. He had always felt that +Major White was not quite of the world in which Joan and he moved. The +major came into it at times, looked around him, and then moved away +again into another world, less energetic, less advanced, less rapid in +its changes. Cornish had never sought to interest his friend in sundry +good works in which Joan, for instance, was interested, and which +formed a delightful topic for conversation at teatime. + +"It is so splendid," said Joan, gathering up her papers, "to feel that +one is really doing something." + +And she looked up into White's face with an air of grave enthusiasm +which made him drop his eye-glass. + +"Oh yes," he answered, rather vaguely. + +Cornish had already seated himself at the table, and was folding the +addressed newspaper wrappers over circulars printed on thick +note-paper. This seemed a busy world into which White had stepped. He +looked rather longingly at the newspaper wrappers and the circulars, +and then lapsed into the contemplation of Joan's neat fingers as she +too fell to the work. + +"We saw all about you," said the girl, in her bright, decisive way, "in +the newspapers. Papa read it aloud. He is always reading things aloud +now, out of the _Times_. He thinks it is good practice for the +platform, I am sure. We were all"--she paused and banged her energetic +fist down upon a pile of folded circulars which seemed to require +further pressure--"very proud, you know, to know you." + +"Good Lord!" ejaculated White, fervently. + +"Well, why not?" asked Miss Ferriby, looking up. She had expressive +eyes, and they now flashed almost angrily. "All English people----" she +began, and broke off suddenly, throwing aside the papers and rising +quickly to her feet. Her eyes were fixed on White's tunic. "Is that a +medal?" she asked, hurrying towards him. "Oh, how splendid! Look, Tony, +look! A medal! Is it"--she paused, looking at it closely--"is it--the +Victoria Cross?" she asked, and stood looking from one man to the +other, her eyes glistening with something more than excitement. + +"Um--yes," admitted White. + +Tony Cornish had risen to his feet also. He held out his hand. + +"I did not know that," he said. + +There was a pause. Tony and Joan returned to their circulars in an odd +silence. The Haberdashers' Assistants seemed suddenly to have +diminished in importance. + +"By-the-by," said Joan Ferriby at length, "papa wants to see you, Tony. +He has a new scheme. Something very large and very important. The only +question is whether it is not too large. It is not only in England, but +in other countries. A great international affair. Some distressed +manufacturers or something. I really do not quite know. That Mr. +Roden--you remember?--has been to see him about it." + +Cornish nodded in his quick way. "I remember Roden," he answered. "The +man you met at Hombourg. Tall dark man with a tired manner." + +"Yes," answered Joan. "He has been to see papa several times. Papa is +just as busy as ever with his charities," she continued, addressing +White. "And I believe he wants you to help him in this one." + +"Me?" said White, nervously. "Oh, I'm no good. I should not know a +haberdasher's assistant if I saw him." + +"Oh, but this is not the Haberdashers' Assistants," laughed Joan. "It +is something much more important than that. The Haberdashers' +Assistants are only----" + +"Pour passer le temps," suggested Cornish, gaily. + +"No, of course not. But papa is really rather anxious about this. He +says it is much the most important thing he has ever had to do +with--and that is saying a good deal, you know. I wish I could remember +the name of it, and of those poor unfortunate people who make +it--whatever it is. It is some stuff, you know, and sounds sticky. Papa +has so many charities, and such long names to them. Aunt Susan says it +is because he was so wild in his youth--but one cannot believe that. +Would you think that papa had been wild in his youth--to look at him +now?" + +"Lord, no!" ejaculated White, with pious solidity, throwing back his +shoulders with an air that seemed to suggest a readiness to fight any +man who should hint at such a thing, and he waved the mere thought +aside with a ponderous gesture of the hand. + +Joan had, however, already turned to another matter. She was consulting +a diary bound in dark blue morocco. + +"Let me see, now," she said. "Papa told me to make an appointment with +you. When can you come?" + +Cornish produced a minute engagement-book, and these two busy people +put their heads together in the search for a disengaged moment. Not +only in mind, but in face and manner, they slightly resembled each +other, and might, by the keen-sighted, have been set down at once as +cousins. Both were fair and slightly made, both were quick and clever. +Both faced the world with an air of energetic intelligence that bespoke +their intention of making a mark upon it. Both were liable to be +checked in a moment of earnest endeavour by a sudden perception of the +humorous, which liability rendered them somewhat superficial, and apt +of it lightly from one thought to another. + +"I wish I could remember the name of papa's new scheme," said Joan, as +she bade them good-bye. When they were in the cab she ran to the door. +"I remember," she cried. "I remember now. It is malgamite." + + + + +CHAPTER III + +BEGINNING AT HOME. + +"Charity creates much of the misery it relieves, but it does not +relieve all the misery it creates." + + +Charity, as all the world knows, should begin at an "at home." Lord +Ferriby knew as well as any that there are men, and perhaps even women, +who will give largely in order that their names may appear largely and +handsomely in the select subscription lists. He also knew that an +invitation card in the present is as sure a bait as the promise of +bliss hereafter. So Lady Ferriby announced by card (in an open envelope +with a halfpenny stamp) that she should be "at home" to certain persons +on a certain evening. And the good and the great flocked to Cambridge +Terrace. The good and great are, one finds, a little mixed, from a +social point of view. + +There were present at Lady Ferriby's, for instance, a number of +ministers, some cabinet, others dissenting. Here, a man leaning against +the wall wore a blue ribbon across his shirt front. There, another, +looking bigger and more self-confident, had no shirt front at all. His +was the cheap distinction of unsuitable clothes. + +"Ha! Miss Ferriby, glad to see you," he said as he entered, holding out +a hand which had the usual outward signs of industrial honesty. + +Joan shook the hand frankly, and its possessor passed on. + +"Is that the gas-man?" inquired Major White, gravely. He had been +standing beside her ever since his arrival, seeking, it seemed, the +protection of one who understood these social functions. It is to be +presumed that the major was less bewildered than he looked. + +"Hush!" And Joan said something hurriedly in White's large ear. +"Everybody has him," she concluded; and the explanation brought certain +calm into the mildly surprised eye behind the eye-glass. White +recognized the phrase and its conclusive contemporary weight. + +"Here's a flat-backed man!" he exclaimed, with a ring of relief. "Been +drilled, this man. Gad! He's proud!" added the major, as the +new-comer passed Joan with rather a cold bow. + +"Oh, that's the detective," explained Joan. "So many people, you know; +and so mixed. Everybody has them. Here's Tony--at last." + +Tony Cornish was indeed making his way through the crowd towards them. +He shook hands with a bishop as he elbowed a path across the room, and +did it with the pious face of a self-respecting curate. The next minute +he was prodding a sporting baronet in the ribs at the precise moment +when that nobleman reached the point of his little story and on the +precise rib where he expected to be prodded. It is always wise to do +the expected. + +At the sight of Tony Cornish, Joan's face became grave, and she turned +towards him with her little frown of preoccupation, such as one might +expect to find upon the face of a woman concerned in the great +movements of the day. But before Tony reached her the expression +changed to a very feminine and even old-fashioned one of annoyance. + +"Oh, here comes mother!" she said, looking beyond Cornish, who was +indeed being pursued by a wizened little old lady. + +Lady Ferriby, it seemed, was not enjoying herself. She glanced +suspiciously from one face to another, as if she was seeking a friend +without any great hope of finding one. Perhaps, like many another, she +looked upon the world from that point Of view. + +Cornish hurried up and shook hands. "Plenty of people," he said. + +"Oh yes," answered Joan, earnestly. "It only shows that there is, after +all, a great deal of good in human nature, that in such a movement as +this rich and poor, great and small, are all equal." + +Cornish nodded in his quick sympathetic way, accepting as we all accept +the social statements of the day, which are oft repeated and never +weighed. Then he turned to White and tapped that soldier's arm +emphatically. + +"Way to get on nowadays," he said, "is to be prominent in some great +movement for benefiting mankind." Joan heard the words, and, turning, +looked at Cornish with a momentary doubt. + +"And I mean to get on in the world, my dear Joan," he said, with a +gravity which quite altered his keen, fair face. It passed off +instantly, as if swept away by the ready smile which came again. A +close observer might have begun to wonder under which mask lay the real +Tony Cornish. + +Major White looked stolidly at his friend. His face, on the contrary +never changed. + +Lady Ferriby joined them at this moment--a silent, querulous-looking +woman in black silk and priceless lace, who, despite her white hair and +wrinkled face, yet wore her clothes with that carefulness which +commands respect from high and low alike. The world was afraid of Lady +Ferriby, and had little to say to her. It turned aside, as a rule, when +she approached. And when she had passed on with her suspicious glance, +her bent and shaking head, it whispered that there walked a woman with +a romantic past. It is, moreover, to be hoped that the younger portion +of Lady Ferriby's world took heed of this catlike, lonely woman, and +recognized the melancholy fact that it is unwise to form a romantic +attachment in the days of one's youth. + +"Tony," said her ladyship, "they have eaten all the sandwiches." + +And there was something in her voice, in her manner of touching Tony +Cornish's arm with her fan that suggested in a far-off, cold way that +this social butterfly had reached one of the still strings of her +heart. Who knows? There may have been, in those dim days when Lady +Ferriby had played her part in the romantic story which all hinted at +and none knew, another such as Tony Cornish--gay and debonair, +careless, reckless, and yet endowed with the power of making some poor +woman happy. + +"My dear aunt," replied Cornish, with a levity with which none other +ever dared to treat her, "the benevolent are always greedy. And each +additional virtue--temperance, loving-kindness, humility--only serves +to dull the sense of humour and add to the appetite. Give them +biscuits, aunt." + +And offering her his arm, he good-naturedly led her to the +refreshment-room to investigate the matter. As she passed through the +crowded rooms, she glanced from face to face with her quick, seeking +look. She cordially disliked all these people. And their principal +crime was that they ate and drank. For Lady Ferriby was a miser. + +At the upper end of the room a low platform served as a safe retreat +for sleepy chaperons on such occasions as the annual Ferriby ball. + To-night there were no chaperons. Is not charity the safest as well as +the most lenient of these? And does her wing not cover a multitude of +indiscretions? + +Upon this platform there now appeared, amid palms and chrysanthemums, a +long, rotund man like a bolster. He held a paper in his hand and wore a +platform smile. His attitude was that of one who hesitated to demand +silence from so well-bred a throng. His high, narrow forehead shone in +the light of the candelabra. This was Lord Ferriby--a man whose best +friend did his best for him in describing him as well-meaning. He gave +a cough which had sufficient significance in it to command a momentary +quiet. During the silence, a well-dressed parson stood on tiptoe and +whispered something in Lord Ferriby's ear. The suggestion, whatever it +may have been, was negated by the speaker on receipt of a warning shake +of the head from Joan. + +"Er--ladies and gentlemen," said Lord Ferriby, and gained the necessary +silence. "Er--you all know the purpose of our meeting here to-night. +You all know that Lady Ferriby and myself are much honoured by your +presence here. And--er--I am sure----" He did not, however, appear to be +quite sure, for he consulted his paper, and the colonial bishop near +the yellow chrysanthemums said, "Hear, hear!" + +"And I am sure that we are, one and all, actuated by a burning desire +to relieve the terrible distress which has been going on unknown to us +in our very midst." + +"He has missed out half a page," said Joan to Major White, who somehow +found himself at her side again. + +"This is no place, and we have at the moment no time, to go into the +details of the manufacture of malgamite. Suffice it to say, that such +a--er--composition exists, and that it is a necessity in the +manufacture of paper. Now, ladies and gentlemen, the painful fact has +been brought to light by my friend Mr. Roden----" His lordship paused, +and looked round with a half-fledged bow, but failed to find Roden. + +"By--er--Mr. Roden that the manufacture of malgamite is one of the +deadliest of industries. In fact, the makers of malgamite, and +fortunately they are comparatively few in number, stricken as they are +by a corroding disease, occupy in our midst the--er--place of the +lepers of the Bible." + +Here Lord Ferriby bowed affably to the bishop, as if to say, "And that +is where _you_ come in." + +"We--er--live in an age," went on Lord Ferriby--and the practical Joan +nodded her head to indicate that he was on the right track now--"when +charity is no longer a matter of sentiment, but rather a very practical +and forcible power in the world. We do not ask your assistance in a +vague and visionary crusade against suffering. We ask you to help us in +the development of a definite scheme for the amelioration of the +condition of our fellow-beings." + +Lord Ferriby spoke not with the ease of long practice, but with the +assurance of one accustomed to being heard with patience. He now waited +for the applause to die away. + +"Who put him up to it?" Major White asked Joan. + +"Mr. Roden wrote the speech, and I taught it to papa," was the answer. + +At this moment Cornish hurried up in his busy way. Indeed, these people +seemed to have little time on their hands. They belonged to a +generation which is much addicted to unnecessary haste. + +"Seen Roden?" he asked, addressing his question to Joan and her +companion jointly. + +"Never in my life," answered Major White. "Is he worth seeing?" + +But Cornish hurried away again. Lord Ferriby was still speaking, but he +seemed to have lost the ear of his audience, and had lapsed into +generalities. A few who were near the platform listened attentively +enough. Some who hoped that they were to be asked to speak applauded +hurriedly and finally whenever the speaker paused to take breath. + +The world is full of people who will not give their money, but offer +readily enough what they call their "time" to a good cause. Lord +Ferriby was lavish with his "time," and liked to pass it in hearing the +sound of his own voice. Every social circle has its talkers, who hang +upon each other's periods in expectance of the moment when they can +successfully push in their own word. Lord Ferriby, looking round upon +faces well known to him, saw half a dozen men who spoke upon all +occasions with a sublime indifference to the fact that they knew +nothing of the subject in hand. With the least encouragement any one of +them would have stepped on to the platform bubbling over with +eloquence. Lord Ferriby was quite clever enough to perceive the danger. +He must go on talking until Roden was found. Had not the pushing parson +already intimated in a whisper that he had a few earnest thoughts in +his mind which he would be glad to get off? + +Lord Ferriby knew those earnest thoughts, and their inevitable tendency +to send the audience to the refreshment-room, where, as Lady Ferriby's +husband, he suspected poverty in the land. + +"Is not Mr. Cornish going to speak?" a young lady eagerly inquired of +Joan. She was a young lady who wore spectacles and scorned a fringe--a +dangerous course of conduct for any young woman to follow. But she made +up for natural and physical deficiencies by an excess of that zeal +which Talleyrand deplored. + +"I think not," answered Joan. "He never speaks in public, you know." + +"I wonder why?" said the young lady, sharply and rather angrily. + +Joan shrugged her shoulders and laughed. She sometimes wondered why +herself, but Tony had never satisfied her curiosity. The young lady +moved away and talked to others of the same matter. There were quite a +number of people in the room who wanted to know why Tony Cornish did +not speak, and wished he would. The way to rule the world is to make it +want something, and keep it wanting. + +"I make so bold as to hope," Lord Ferriby was saying, "that when +sufficient publicity has been given to our scheme we shall be able to +raise the necessary funds. In the fulness of this hope, I have ventured +to jot down the names of certain gentlemen who have been kind enough to +assume the trusteeship. I propose, therefore, that the trustees of the +Malgamite Fund shall be--er--myself----" + +Like a practiced speaker, Lord Ferriby paused for the applause which +duly followed. And certain elderly gentlemen, who had been young when +Marmaduke Ferriby was young, looked with much interest at the pictures +on the wall. That Lord Ferriby should assume the directorship of a +great charity was to send that charity on its way rejoicing. He stood +smiling benevolently and condescendingly down upon the faces turned +towards him, and rejoiced inwardly over these glorious obsequies of a +wild and deplorable past. + +"Mr. Anthony Cornish," he read out, and applause made itself heard +again. + +"Major White." + +And the listeners turned round and stared at that hero, whom they +discovered calmly and stolidly entrenched behind the eye-glass, his +broad, tanned face surmounting a shirt front of abnormal width. + +"Herr von Holzen." + +No one seemed to know Herr von Holzen, or to care much whether he +existed or not. + +"And--my--er--friend--the originator of this great scheme--the man whom +we all look up to as the benefactor of a most miserable class of +men--Mr. Percy Roden." + +Lord Ferriby meant the listeners to applaud, and they did so, although +they had never heard the name before. He folded the paper held in his +hand, and indicated by his manner that he had for the moment nothing +more to say. From his point of advantage he scanned the whole length of +the large room, evidently seeking some one. Anthony Cornish had been +the second name mentioned, and the majority hoped that it was he who +was to speak next. They anticipated that he, at all events, would be +lively, and in addition to this recommendation there hovered round his +name that mysterious charm which is in itself a subtle form of +notoriety. People said of Tony Cornish that he would get on in the +world; and upon this slender ladder he had attained social success. + +But Cornish was not in the room, and after waiting a few moments, Lord +Ferriby came down from the platform, and joined some of the groups of +persons in the large room. For already the audience was breaking up +into small parties, and the majority, it is to be feared, were by now +talking of other matters. In these days we cannot afford to give +sufficient time to any one object to do that object or ourselves any +lasting good. + +Presently there was a stir at the door, and Cornish entered the large +room, followed leisurely by a tired-looking man, for whom the idlers +near the doorway seemed instinctively to make way. This man was tall, +square-shouldered, and loose of limb. He had smooth dark hair, and +carried his head thrown rather back from the neck. His eyes were dark, +and the fact that a considerable line of white was visible beneath the +pupil imparted to his whole being an air of physical delicacy +suggestive of a constant feeling of fatigue. + +"Who is this?" asked Major White, aroused to a sense of stolid +curiosity which few of his fellow-men had the power of awakening. + +"Oh, that," said Joan, looking towards the door--"that is Mr. Percy +Roden." + + + + +CHAPTER IV + +A NEW DISCIPLE. + +"Pour etre heureux, il ne faut avoir rien a oublier." + + +There is in the atmosphere of the Hotel of the Vieux Doelen at The +Hague something as old-world, as quiet and peaceful, as there is in the +very name of this historic house. The stairs are softly carpeted; the +great rooms are hung with tapestry, and otherwise decorated in a +massive and somewhat gloomy style, little affected in the newer +_caravanserais_. The house itself, more than three hundred years old, +is of dark red brick with facings of stone, long since worn by wind and +weather. The windows are enormous, and would appear abnormal in any +other city but this. The Hotel of the Old Shooting gallery stands on +the Toornoifeld and the unobservant may pass by without distinguishing +it from the private houses on either side. This, indeed, is not so much +a house of hasty rest for the passing traveler as it is a halting-place +for that great army which is ever moving quietly on and on through the +cities of the Old World--the corps diplomatique--the army whose +greatest victory is peace. The traveller passing a night or two at the +hotel may well be faintly surprised at the atmosphere in which he finds +himself. If he be what is called a practical man, he will probably +shake his head forebodingly over the prospects of the proprietor. There +seems, indeed, to be a singular dearth of visitors. The winding stairs +are nearly always deserted. The _salon_ is empty. There are no sounds +of life, no trunks in the hall, and no idlers at the door. And yet at +the hour of the _table d'hote_ quiet doors are opened, and quiet men +emerge from rooms that seemed before to be uninhabited. They are mostly +smooth-haired men with a pensive reserve of manner, a certain polished +cosmopolitan air, and the inevitable frock-coat. They bow gravely to +each other, and seat themselves at separate tables. As often as not +they produce books or newspapers, and read during the solemn meal. It +is as well to watch these men and take note of them. Many of them are +grey-headed. No one of them is young. But they are beginners, mere +apprentices, at a very difficult trade, and in the days to come they +will have the making of the history of Europe. For these men are +attaches and secretaries of embassies. They will talk to you in almost +any European tongue you may select, but they are not communicative +persons. + +During the winter--the gay season at The Hague--there are usually a +certain number of residents in the hotel. At the time with which we are +dealing, Mrs. Vansittart was staying there, alone with her maid. Mrs. +Vansittart was in the habit of dining at the small table near the +stove--a gorgeous erection of steel and brass, which stands nearly in +the centre of the smaller dining-room used in winter. Mrs. Vansittart +seemed, moreover, to be quite at home in the hotel, and exchanged bows +with a few of the gentlemen of the corps diplomatique. She was a +graceful, dark-haired woman, with deep brown eyes that looked upon the +world without much interest. This was not, one felt, a woman to lavish +her attention or her thoughts upon a toy spaniel, as do so many ladies +travelling alone with their maids in Continental hotels. Perhaps this +woman of thirty-five years or so preferred to be frankly bored, rather +than set up for herself a shivering four-legged object in life. Perhaps +she was not bored at all. One never knows. The gentlemen from the +embassies glanced at her over their books or their newspapers, and +wondered who and what she might be. They knew, at all events, that she +took no interest in those affairs of the great world which rumble on +night and day without rest, with spasmodic bursts of clumsy haste, and +with a never-failing possibility of surprise in their movements. This +was no political woman, whatever else she might be. She would talk in +quite a number of languages of such matters as the opera, a new book, +or an old picture, and would then relapse again into a sort of waiting +silence. At thirty-five it is perhaps not well to wait too patiently +for those things that make a woman's life worth living. Mrs. Vansittart +had not the air, however, of one who would wait indefinitely. + +When Mr. Percy Roden arrived at the hotel, he was assigned, at the hour +of _table d'hote_, a small table between those occupied respectively by +Mrs. Vansittart and the secretary of the Belgian Embassy. Some subtle +sense conveyed to Percy Roden that he had aroused Mrs. Vansittart's +interest--the sense called vanity, perhaps, which conveys so much to +young men, and so much that is erroneous. On the second evening, +therefore, when he had returned from a busy day in the neighbourhood of +Scheveningen, Roden half looked for the bow which was half accorded to +him. That evening Mrs. Vansittart spoke to the waiter in English, which +was obviously her native language, and Roden overheard. After dinner +Mrs. Vansittart lingered in the _salon_ and a woman, had such been +present, would have perceived that she made it easy for Roden to pause +in passing and offer her his English newspaper, which had arrived by +the evening post. The subtle is so often the obvious that to be +unobservant is a social duty. + +"Thank you," she replied. "I like newspapers. Although I have not been +in England for years, I still take an interest in the affairs of my +country." + +Her manner was easy and natural, without that taint of a too sudden +familiarity which is characteristic of the present generation. We are +apt to allow ourselves to feel too much at home. + +"I, on the contrary," replied Roden, with his tired air, "have never +till now been out of England or English-speaking colonies." + +His voice had a hollow sound. Although he was tall and +broad-shouldered, his presence had no suggestion of strength. Mrs. +Vansittart looked at him quickly as she took the newspaper from his +hand. She had clever, speculative eyes, and was obviously wondering why +he had gone to the colonies and why he had returned thence. So many +sail to those distant havens of the unsuccessful under one cloud and +return under another, that it seems wiser to remain stationary and +snatch what passing sunshine there may be. Roden had not a colonial +manner. He was well dressed. He was, in fact, the sort of man who would +pass in any society. And it is probable that Mrs. Vansittart summed him +up in her quick mind with perfect success. Despite our clothes, despite +our airs and graces, we mostly appear to be exactly what we are. Mrs. +Vansittart, who knew the world and men, did not need to be informed by +Percy Roden that he was unacquainted with the Continent. Comparing him +with the other men passing through the _salon_ to their rooms or their +club, it became apparent that he had one sort of stiffness which they +had not, and lacked another sort of stiffness which grows upon those +who live and take their meals in public places. Mrs. Vansittart could +probably have made a fair guess at the sort of education Percy Roden +had received. For a man carries his school mark through life with him. + +"Ah," she said, taking the newspaper and glancing at it with just +sufficient interest to prolong the conversation, "then you do not know +The Hague. It is a place that grows upon one. It is one of the social +capitals of the world. Vienna, St. Petersburg, Paris, are the others. +Madrid, Berlin, New York, are--nowhere." + +She laughed, bowed with a little half--foreign gesture of thanks, and +left him--left him, moreover, with the desire to see more of her. It +seemed that she knew the secret of that other worldling, Tony Cornish, +that the way to rule men is to make them want something and keep them +wanting. As Roden passed through the hall he paused, and entered into +conversation with the hall porter. During the course of this talk he +made some small inquiries respecting Mrs. Vansittart. That lady had no +need to make inquiries respecting Roden. Has it not been stated that +she was travelling with her maid? + +"I see," she said, when she saw him again the next day after dinner in +the _salon_, "that your great philanthropic scheme is now an +established fact. I have taken a great interest in its progress, and of +course know the names of some who are associated with you in it." + +Roden laughed indifferently, well pleased to be recognized. His +notoriety was new enough and narrow enough to please him still. There +is no man so much at the mercy of his own vanity as he who enjoys a +limited notoriety. + +"Yes," he answered, "we have got it into shape. Do you know Lord +Ferriby?" + +"No," answered Mrs. Vansittart, slowly, "I have not that pleasure. + +"Oh, Ferriby is a good enough fellow," said Roden, kindly; and Mrs. +Vansittart gave a little nod as she looked at him. Roden had drawn +forward a chair, and she sat down, after a moment's hesitation, in +front of the open fire. + +"So I have always heard," she answered, "and a great philanthropist." + +"Oh--yes." Roden paused and took a chair. "Oh yes; but Tony Cornish is +our right-hand man. The people seem to place greater faith in him than +they do in Lord Ferriby. When it is Cornish who asks, they give readily +enough. He is business-like and quick, and that always tells in the +long run." + +Percy Roden seemed disposed to be communicative, and Mrs. Vansittart's +attitude was distinctly encouraging. She leant sideways on the arm of +her chair, and looked at her companion with speculation in her +intelligent eyes. She was perhaps reflecting that this was not the sort +of man one usually finds engaged in philanthropic enterprise. It is +likely that her thoughts were of this nature, and were, as thoughts so +often are, transmitted silently to her companion's mind, for he +proceeded, unasked, to explain. + +"It is not, properly speaking, a charity, you know," he said. "It is +more in the nature of a trade union. This is a practical age, Mrs. +Vansittart, and it is necessary that charity should keep pace with the +march of progress and be self-supporting." + +There was a faint suggestion of glibness in his manner. It was probable +that he had made use of the same arguments before. + +"And who else is associated with you in this great enterprise?" asked +the lady, keeping him with the cleverness of her sex upon the subject +in which he was obviously deeply interested. The shrewdest women +usually treat men thus, and they generally know what subject interests +a man most--namely, himself. + +"Herr von Holzen is the most important person," replied Roden. + +"Ah!" said Mrs. Vansittart, looking into the fire; "and who is Herr von +Holzen?" + +Roden paused for a moment, and the lady, looking half indifferently +into the fire, noticed the hesitation. + +"Oh, he is a scientist--a professor at one of the universities over +here, I believe. At all events, he is a very clever fellow--analytical +chemist and all that, you know. It is he who has made the discovery +upon which we are working. He has always been interested in malgamite, +and he has now found out how it may be manufactured without injury to +the workers. Malgamite, you understand, is an essential in the +manufacture of paper, and the world will never require less paper than +it does now, but more. Look at the tons that pass through the +post-offices daily. Paper-making is one of the great industries of the +world, and without malgamite, paper cannot be made at a profit to-day." + +Roden seemed to have his subject at his fingers' ends, and if he spoke +without enthusiasm, the reason was probably that he had so often said +the same thing before. + +"I am much interested," said Mrs. Vansittart, in her half-foreign way, +which was rather pleasing. "Tell me more about it." + +"The malgamite makers," went on Roden, willingly enough, "are +fortunately but few in numbers and they are experts. They are to be +found in twos and threes in manufacturing cities--Amsterdam, +Gothenburg, Leith, New York, and even Barcelona. Of course there are a +number in England. Our scheme, briefly, is to collect these men +together, to build a manufactory and houses for them--to form them, in +fact, into a close corporation, and then supply the world with +malgamite." + +"It is a great scheme, Mr. Roden." + +"Yes, it is a great scheme; and it is, I think, laid upon the right +lines. These people require to be saved from themselves. As they now +exist, they are well paid. They are engaged in a deadly industry, and +know it. There is nothing more demoralizing to human nature than this +knowledge. They have a short and what they take to be a merry life." +The tired--looking man paused and spread out his hands in a gesture of +careless scorn. He had almost allowed himself to lapse into enthusiasm. +"There is no reason," he went on, "why they should not become a happy +and respectable community. The first thing we shall have to teach them +is that their industry is comparatively harmless, as it will +undoubtedly be with Von Holzen's new process. The rest will, I think, +come naturally. Altered circumstances will alter the people +themselves." + +"And where do you intend to build this manufactory?" inquired Mrs. +Vansittart, to whom was vouch-safed that rare knowledge of the fine +line that is to be drawn between a kindly interest and a vulgar +curiosity. The two are nearer than is usually suspected. + +"Here in Holland," was the reply. "I have almost decided on the +spot--on the dunes to the north of Scheveningen. That is why I am +staying at The Hague. There are many reasons why this coast is +suitable. We shall be in touch with the canal system, and we shall have +a direct outfall to the sea for our refuse, which is necessary. I shall +have to live in The Hague--my sister and I." + +"Ah! You have a sister?" said Mrs. Vansittart, turning in her chair and +looking at him. A woman's interest in a man's undertaking is invariably +centred upon that point where another woman comes into it. + +"Yes." + +"Unmarried?" + +"Yes; Dorothy is unmarried." + +Mrs. Vansittart gave several quick little nods of the head. + +"I am wondering two things," she said--"whether she is like you, and +whether she is interested in this scheme. But I am wondering more than +that. Is she pretty, Mr. Roden?" + +"Yes, I think she is pretty." + +"I am glad of that. I like girls to be pretty. It makes their lives so +much more interesting--to the onlooker, _bien entendu_, but not to +themselves. The happiest women I have known have been the plain ones. +But perhaps your sister will be pretty and happy too. That would be so +nice, and so very rare, Mr. Roden. I shall look forward to making her +acquaintance. I live in The Hague, you know. I have a house in Park +Straat, and I am only at this hotel while the painters are in +possession. You will allow me to call on your sister when she joins +you?" + +"We shall be most gratified," said Roden. + +Mrs. Vansittart had risen with a little glance at the clock, and her +companion rose also. "I am greatly interested in your scheme," she +said. "Much more than I can tell you. It is so refreshing to find +charity in such close connection with practical common sense. I think +you are doing a great work, Mr. Roden." + +"I do what I can," he replied, with a bow. + +"And Mr. Von Holzen," inquired Mrs. Vansittart, stopping for a moment +as she moved towards the doorway, which is large and hung with +curtains--"does Mr. Von Holzen work from purely philanthropic motives +also?" + +"Well--yes, I think so. Though, of course, he, like myself, will be +paid a salary. Perhaps, however, he is more interested in malgamite +from a scientific point of view." + +"Ah, yes, from a scientific point of view, of course. Good night, Mr. +Roden." + +And she left him. + + + + +CHAPTER V. + +OUT OF EGYPT. + +"Un esclave est moins celui qu'on vend que celui qui se donne" + + +A sea fog was blowing across the smooth surface of the Maas where that +river is broad and shallow, and a steamer anchored in the channel, grim +and motionless, gave forth a grunt of warning from time to time, while +a boy with mittened hands rang the bell hung high on the forecastle +with a dull monotony. The wind blowing from the south-east drove before +it the endless fog which hummed through the rigging, and hung there in +little icicles that pointed to leeward. On the bridge of the steamer, +looking like a huge woollen barrel surmounted by a comforter and a cap +with ear-flaps, the Dutch pilot stood philosophically at his post. Near +him the captain, mindful of the company's time-tables, walked with a +quick, impatient step. The fog was blowing past at the rate of four or +five miles an hour, but the supply of it, emanating from the low lands +bordering the Scheldt, seemed to be inexhaustible. This fog, indeed, +blows across Holland nearly the whole winter. + +The steamer's deck was covered with ice, over which sand had been +strewn. The passengers were below in the warm saloon. Only the +blue-faced boy at the bell on the forecastle was on the main-deck. At +times one of the watch hurried from the galley to the forecastle with a +pannikin of steaming coffee. The vessel had been anchored since +daybreak and the sound of other bells and other whistles far and near +told that she was not alone in these waters. The distant boom of a +steamer creeping cautiously down from Rotterdam seemed to promise that +farther inland the fog was thinner. A silence, broken only by the +whisper of the wind through the rigging, reigned over all, so that men +listened with anticipations of relief for the sound of answering bells. +The sky at length grew a little lighter, and presently gaps made their +appearance in the fog, allowing peeps over the green and still water. + +The captain and the pilot exchanged a few words--the very shortest of +consultations. They had been on the bridge together all night, and had +said all that there was to be said about wind and weather. The captain +gave a sharp order in his gruff voice, and, as if by magic, the watch +on deck appeared from all sides. The chief officer emerged from his +cabin beneath the wheel-house, and went forward into the fog, turning +up his collar. Presently the jerk and clink of the steam-winch told +that the anchor was being got home. The fog had been humoured for six +hours, and the time had now come to move on through thick or thin. What +should Berlin, Petersburg, Vienna, know of a fog on the Maas? And there +were mails and passengers on board this steamer. The clink of the winch +brought one of these on deck. Within the high collar of his fur coat, +beneath the brim of a felt hat pulled well down, the keen; fair face of +Mr. Anthony Cornish came peering up the gangway to the upper bridge. He +exchanged a nod with the captain and the pilot; for with these he had +already been in conversation at the breakfast-table. He took his +station on the bridge behind them, with his hands deep in the pockets +of his loose coat, a cigarette between his lips. A shout from the +forecastle soon intimated that the anchor was up, and the captain gave +the order to the boy at the engine-room telegraph. Through the fog the +forms of the three men on the look-out on the forecastle were dimly +discernible. The great steamer crept cautiously forward into the fog. +The second mate, with his hand on the whistle-line, blared out his +warning note every half-minute. A dim shadow loomed up on the +port-side, which presently took the form of a great steamer at anchor, +and was left behind with a ringing bell and a booming whistle. Another +shadow turned out to be a pilot-cutter, and the Dutch pilot exchanged a +shouted consultation with an invisible person whom he called "Thou," +and who replied to the imperfectly heard questions with the words, +"South East." This shadow also was left behind, faintly calling, "South +East," "South East." + +"It is a white buoy that I seek," said the pilot, turning to those on +the bridge behind him, his jolly red face puckered with anxiety. And +quite suddenly the second officer, a bright-red Scotchman with little +blue eyes like tempered gimlets, threw out a red hand and pointing +finger. + +"There she rides," he said. "There she rides; staar boarrrd your +hellum!" + +And a full thirty seconds elapsed before any other eyes could pierce +that gloom and perceive a great white buoy bowing solemnly towards the +steamer like a courtier bidding a sovereign welcome. One voice had +seemed to be gradually dominating the din of the many warning whistles +that sounded ahead, astern, and all around the steamer. This voice, +like that of a strong man knowing his own mind in an assembly of +excited and unstable counsellors, had long been raised with a +persistence which at last seemed to command all others, and the steamer +moved steadily towards it; for it was the siren fog-horn at the +pier-head. At one moment it seemed to be quite near, and at the next +far away; for the ears, unaided by the eyes, can but imperfectly focus +sound or measure its distance. + +"At last!" said the captain, suddenly, the anxiety wiped away from his +face as if by magic. "At last, I hear the cranes aworking on the quay." + +The purser had come to the bridge, and now approached Cornish. + +"Are you going to land them at the Hook or take them on to Rotterdam, +sir?" he asked. + +"Oh, land 'em at the Hook," replied Cornish, readily. "Have you fed +them?" + +"Yes, sir. They have had their breakfast--such as it is. Poor eaters I +call them, sir." + +"Yes." said Cornish, turning and looking at his burly interlocutor. +"Yes, I do not suppose they eat much." + +The purser shrugged his shoulders, and turned his attention to other +affairs, thoughtfully. The little, beacon at the head of the pier had +suddenly loomed out of the fog not fifty yards away--a very needle in a +pottle of hay, which the cunning of the pilot had found. + +"Who are they, at any rate--these hundred and twenty ghosts of men?" +asked the sailor, abruptly. + +"They are malgamite workers," answered Cornish, cheerily. "And I am +going to make men of them--not ghosts." + +The purser looked at him, laughed in rather a puzzled way, and quitted +the bridge. Cornish remained there, taking a quick, intelligent +interest in the manoeuvres by which the great steamer was being brought +alongside the quay. He seemed to have already forgotten the hundred and +twenty men in the second-class cabin. His touch was indeed hopelessly +light. He understood how it was that the steamer was made to obey, but +he could not himself have brought her alongside. Cornish was a true son +of a generation which understands much of many things, but not quite +sufficient of any one. + +He stood at the upper end of the gangway as the malgamite workers filed +off--a sorry crew, narrow-chested, hollow-eyed, with that +half-hopeless, half-reckless air that tells of a close familiarity with +disease and death. He nodded to them airily as they passed him. Some of +them took the trouble to answer his salutation, others seemed +indifferent. A few glanced at him with a sort of dull wonder. And +indeed this man was not of the material of which great philanthropists +are made. He was cheerful and heedless, shallow and superficial. + +"Get 'em into the train," he said to an official at his side; and then, +seeing that he had not been understood, gave the order glibly enough in +another language. + +The ill-clad travellers shuffled up the gangway and through the +custom-house. Few seemed to take an interest in their surroundings. +They exchanged no comments, but walked side by side in silence--dumb +and driven animals. Some of them bore signs of disease. A few stumbled +as they went. One or two were half blind, with groping hands. That they +were of different nationalities was plain enough. Here a Jew from +Vienna, with the fear of the Judenhetze in his eyes, followed on the +heels of a tow-headed giant from Stockholm. A cunning cockney touched +his hat as he passed, and rather ostentatiously turned to help a +white-haired little Italian over the inequalities of the gangway. One +thing only they had in common--their deadly industry. One shadow lay +over them all--the shadow of death. A momentary gravity passed across +Cornish's face. These men were as far removed from him as the crawling +beetle is from the butterfly. Who shall say, however, that the butterfly +sees nothing but the flowers? + +As they passed him, some of them edged away with a dull humility for +fear their poor garments should touch his fur coat. One, carrying a +bird-cage, half paused, with a sort of pride, that Cornish might obtain +a fuller view of a depressed canary. The malgamite workers of this +winter's morning on the pier of Hoek were not the interesting +industrials of Lady Ferriby's drawing-room. There their lives had been +spoken of as short and merry. Here the merriment was scarcely +perceptible. The mystery of the dangerous industries is one of those +mysteries of human nature which cannot be explained by even the +youngest of novelists. That dangerous industries exist we all know and +deplore. That the supply of men and women ready to take employment in +such industries is practically inexhaustible is a fact worth at least a +moment's attention. + +Cornish made the necessary arrangements with the railway officials, and +carefully counted his charges, who were already seated in the carriages +reserved for them. He must at all events be allowed the virtues of a +generation which is eminently practical and capable of overcoming the +small difficulties of everyday life. He was quick to decide and prompt +to act. + +Then he seated himself in a carriage alone, with a sigh of relief at +the thought that in a few days he would be back in London. His +responsibility ended at The Hague, where he was to hand over the +malgamite workers to the care of Roden and Von Holzen. They were +rather a depressing set of men, and Holland, as seen from the carriage +window--a snow-clad plain intersected by frozen ditches and +canals--was no more enlivening. The temperature was deadly cold; the +dull houses were rime-covered and forbidding. The malgamite makers had +been gathered together from all parts of the world in a home specially +organized for them in London. A second detachment was awaiting their +orders at Hamburg. But the principal workers were these now placed +under Cornish's care. + +During the days of their arrival, when they had to be met and housed +and cared for, the visionary part of this great scheme had slowly faded +before a somewhat grim reality. Joan Ferriby had found the malgamite +workers less picturesque than she had anticipated. + +"If they only washed," she had confided to Major White, "I am sure they +would be easier to deal with." And after talking French very +vivaciously and boldly with a man from Lyons, she hurried back to the +West End, and to the numerous engagements which naturally take up much +of one's time when Lent is approaching, and dilatory hospitality is +stirred up by the startling collapse of the Epiphany Sundays. + +Here, however, were the malgamite workers and they had to be dealt +with. It was not quite what many had anticipated, perhaps, and Cornish +was looking forward with undisguised pleasure to the moment when he +could rid himself of these persons whom Joan had gaily designated as +"rather gruesome," and whom he frankly recognized as sordid and +uninteresting. He did not even look, as Joan had looked, to the wives +and children who were to follow as likely to prove more picturesque and +engaging. + +The train made its way cautiously over the fog-ridden plain, and +Cornish shivered as he looked out of the window. "Schiedam," the +porters called. This, Schiedam? A mere village, and yet the name was so +familiar. The world seemed suddenly to have grown small and sordid. A +few other stations with historic names, and then The Hague. + +Cornish quitted his carriage, and found himself shaking hands with +Roden, who was awaiting him on the platform, clad in a heavy fur coat. +Roden looked clever and capable--cleverer and more capable than Cornish +had even suspected--and the organization seemed perfect. The reserved +carriages had been in readiness at the Hook. The officials were +prepared. + +"I have omnibuses and carts for them and their luggage," were the first +words that Roden spoke. + +Cornish instinctively placed himself under Roden's orders. The man had +risen immensely in his estimation since the arrival in London of the +first malgamite maker. The grim reality of the one had enhanced the +importance of the other. Cornish had been engaged in so many charities +_pour rire_ that the seriousness of this undertaking was apt to +exaggerate itself in his mind--if, indeed, the seriousness of anything +dwelt there at all. + + +"I counted them all over at the Hook," he said. "One hundred and +twenty--pretty average scoundrels." + +"Yes; they are not much to look at," answered Roden. + +And the two men stood side by side watching the malgamite workers, who +now quitted the train and stood huddled together in a dull apathy on +the roomy platform. + +"But you will soon get them into shape, no doubt," said Cornish, with +characteristic optimism. He was essentially of a class that has always +some one at hand to whom to relegate tasks which it could do more +effectually and more quickly for itself. The secret of human happiness +is to be dependent upon as few human beings as possible. + +"Oh yes! We shall soon get them into shape--the sea air and all that, +you know." + +Roden looked at his _proteges_ with large, sad eyes, in which there was +alike no enthusiasm and no spark of human kindness. Cornish wondered +vaguely what he was thinking about. The thoughts were certainly tinged +with pessimism, and lacked entirely the blindness of an enthusiasm by +which men are urged to endeavour great things for the good of the +masses, and to make, as far as a practical human perception may +discern, huge and hideous mistakes. + +"Von Holzen is down below," said Roden, at length. "As soon as he comes +up we will draft them off in batches of ten, and pack them into the +omnibuses. The luggage can follow. Ah! Here comes Von Holzen. You don't +know him, do you?" + +"No; I don't know him." + +They both went forward to meet a man of medium height, with square +shoulders, and a still, clean-shaven face. Otto von Holzen raised his +hat, and remained bare-headed while he shook hands. + +"The introduction is unnecessary," he said. "We have worked together +for many months--you on the other side of the North Sea, and I on this. +And now we have, at all events, something to show for our work." + +He had a quick, foreign manner, with a kind smile, and certain +vivacity. + +This was a different sort of man to Roden--quicker to feel for others, +to understand others; capable of greater good, and possibly of greater +evil. He glanced at Cornish, nodded sympathetically, and then turned to +look at the malgamite makers. These, standing in a group on the +platform, holding in their hands their poor belongings, returned the +gaze with interest. The train which had brought them steamed out of the +station, leaving the malgamite makers gazing in a dull wonder at the +three men into whose hands they had committed their lives. + + + + +CHAPTER VI. + +ON THE DUNES. + +"L'indifference est le sommeil du coeur." + + +The village of Scheveningen, as many know, is built on the sand dunes, +and only sheltered from the ocean by a sea-wall. A new Scheveningen has +sprung up on this sea-wall--a mere terrace of red brick houses, already +faded and weather-worn, which stare forlornly at the shallow sea. +Inland, except where building enterprise has constructed roads and +built villas are sand dunes. To the south, beyond the lighthouse, are +sand dunes. To the north, more especially and most emphatically, are +sand dunes as far as the eye may see. This tract of country is a very +desert, where thin maritime grasses are shaken by the wind, where +suggestive spars lie bleaching, where the sand, driven before the +breeze like snow, travels to and fro through all the ages. + +This afternoon, the dunes presented as forlorn an appearance as it is +possible in one's gloomiest moments to conceive. The fog had, indeed, +lifted a little, but a fine rain now drove before the wind, freezing as +it fell, so that the earth was covered by a thin sheet of ice. The +short January day was drawing to its close. + +To the north of the waterworks, three hundred yards away from that +solitary erection, the curious may find to-day a few low buildings +clustering round a water-tower. These buildings are of wood, with roofs +of corrugated iron; and when they were newly constructed, not so many +years ago, presented a gay enough appearance, with their green +shutters and ornamental eaves. The whole was enclosed in a fence of +corrugated iron, and approached by a road not too well constructed on +its sandy bed. + +"We do not want the place to become the object of an excursion for +tourists to The Hague," said Roden to Cornish, as they approached the +malgamite works in a closed carriage. + +Cornish looked out of the window and made no remark. So far as he could +see on all sides, there was nothing but sand-hills and grey grass. The +road was a narrow one, and led only to the little cluster of houses +within the fence. It was a lonely spot, cut off from all communication +with the outer world. Men might pass within a hundred yards and never +know that the malgamite works existed. The carriage drove through the +high gateway into the enclosure. There were a number of cottages, two +long, low buildings, and the water-tower. + +"You see," said Roden, "we have plenty of room to increase our +accommodation when there is need of it. But we must go slowly and feel +our way. It would never do to fail. We have accommodation here for a +couple of hundred workers and their families; but in time we shall have +five hundred of them in here--all the malgamite workers in the world." + +He broke off with a laugh, and looked round him. There was a ring in +his voice suggestive of a keen excitement. Could Percy Roden, after +all, be an enthusiast? Cornish glanced at him uneasily. In Cornish's +world sincere enthusiasm was so rare that it was never well received. + +Roden's manner changed again, however, and he explained the plan of the +little village with his usual half-indifferent air. + +"These two buildings are the factories," he said. "In them three +hundred men can work at once. There we shall build sheds for the +storage of the raw material. Here we shall erect a warehouse. But I do +not anticipate that we shall ever have much malgamite on our hands. We +shall turn over our money very quickly." + +Cornish listened with the respectful attention which business details +receive nowadays from those whose birth and education unfit them for +such pursuits. It was obvious that he did not fully understand the +terms of which Roden made use; but he tapped his smart boot with his +cane, gave a quick nod of the head, and looked intelligently around +him. He had a certain respect for Percy Roden, while that +philanthropist did not perhaps appear quite at his best in his business +moments. + +"And do you--and that foreign individual, Mr. Von Holzen--live inside +this--zareba?" he asked. + + +"No; Von Holzen lives as yet in Scheveningen, in a hotel there. And I +have taken a small villa on the dunes, with my sister to keep house for +me." + +"Ah! I did not know you had a sister," said Cornish, still looking +about him with intelligent ignorance. "Does she take an interest in the +malgamite scheme?" + +"Only so far as it affects me," replied Roden. "She is a good sister to +me. The house is between the waterworks and the steam-tram station. We +will call in on our way back, if you care to." + +"I should like nothing better," replied Cornish, conventionally, and +they continued their inspection of the little colony. The arrangements +were as simple as they were effective. Either Roden or Von Holzen +certainly possessed the genius of organization. In one of the cottages +a cold collation was set out on two long tables. There was a choice of +wines, and notably some bottles of champagne on a side table. + +"For the journalists," explained Roden. "I have a number of them coming +this afternoon to witness the arrival of the first batch of malgamite +makers. There is nothing like judicious advertisement. We have invited +a number of newspaper correspondents. We give them champagne and pay +their expenses. If you will be a little friendly, they would like it +immensely. They, of course, know who you are. A little flattery, you +understand." + +"Flattery and champagne," laughed Cornish--"the two principal +ingredients of popularity." + +"I have here a number of photographs," continued Roden, "taken by a +good man in the neighbourhood. He has thrown in a view of the sea at +the back, you see. It is not there; but he has put in the sky and sea +from another plate, he tells me, to make a good picture of it. We shall +send them to the principal illustrated papers." + +"And I suppose," said Cornish, with his gay laugh, "that some of the +journalists will throw in background also." + +"Of course," answered Roden, gravely. "And the sentimentalists will be +satisfied. The sentimentalists never stop at providing necessaries; +they want to pamper. It will please them immensely to think that the +malgamite makers, who have been collected from the slums of the world, +have a sea view and every modern luxury." + +"We must humour them," said Cornish, practically. "We should not get +far without them." + +At this moment the sound of wheels made them both turn towards the +entrance. It was an omnibus--the best omnibus with the finest +horses--which brought the journalists. These gentlemen now descended +from the vehicle and came towards the cottage, where Cornish and Roden +awaited them. They were what is euphemistically called a little mixed. +Some were too well dressed, others too badly. But all carried +themselves with an air that bespoke a consciousness of greatness not +unmingled with good-fellowship. The leader, a stout man, shook hands +affably with Cornish, who assumed his best and most gracious manner. + + +"Aha! Here we are," he said, rubbing his hands together and looking at +the champagne. + +Then somehow Cornish came to the front and Roden retired into the +background. It was Cornish who opened the champagne and poured it into +their glasses. It was Cornish who made the best jokes, and laughed the +loudest at the journalistic quips fired off by his companions. Cornish +seemed to understand the guests better than did Roden, who was inclined +to be stiff towards them. Those who are assured of their position are +not always thinking about it. Men who stand much upon their dignity +have not, as a rule, much else to stand upon. + +"Here's to you, sir," cried the stout newspaper man, with upraised +glass and a heart full of champagne. "Here's to you--whoever you are. +And now to business. Perhaps you'll trot us round the works." + +This Cornish did with much success. He then stood beside the +correspondents while the malgamite workers descended from the omnibus +and took possession of their new quarters. He provided the journalists +with photographs and a short printed account of the malgamite trade, +which had been prepared by Von Holzen. It was finally Cornish who +packed them into the omnibus in high good humour, and sent them back to +The Hague. + +"Do not forget the sentiment," he called out after them. "Remember it +is a charity." + +The malgamite workers were left to the care of Von Holzen, who had made +all necessary preparations for their reception. + + + + +"You are a cleverer man than I thought you," said Roden to Cornish, as +they walked over the dunes together in the dusk towards the Rodens' +house. And it was difficult to say whether Roden was pleased or not. +He did not speak much during the walk, and was evidently wrapped in +deep thought. + +Cornish was light and inconsequent as usual. "We shall soon raise +more money," he said. "We shall have malgamite balls, and malgamite +bazaars, malgamite balloon ascents if that is not flying too high." + +The Villa des Dunes stands, as its name implies, among the sand hills, +facing south and west. It is upon an elevation, and therefore enjoys a +view of the sea, and, inland, of the spires of The Hague. The garden is +an old one, and there are quiet nooks in it where the trees have grown +to a quite respectable stature. Holland is so essentially a tidy +country that nothing old or moss-grown is tolerated. One wonders where +all the rubbish of the centuries has been hidden; for all the ruins +have been decently cleared away and cities that teem with historical +interest seem, with a few exceptions, to have been built last year. The +garden of the Villa des Dunes was therefore more remarkable for +cleanliness than luxuriance. The house itself was uninteresting, and +resembled a thousand others on the coast in that it was more +comfortable than it looked. A suggestion of warmth and lamp-light +filtered through the drawn curtains. + +Roden led the way into the house, admitting himself with a latch-key. +"Dorothy," he cried, as soon as the door was closed behind them--the +two tall men in their heavy coats almost filled the little +hall--"Dorothy, where are you?" + +The atmosphere of the house--that subtle odour which is characteristic +of all dwellings--was pleasant. One felt that there were flowers in the +rooms, and that tea was in course of preparation. + +The door on the left-hand side of the hall was opened, and a small +woman appeared there. She was essentially small--a little upright +figure with bright brown hair, a good complexion, and gay, sparkling +eyes. + +"I have brought Mr. Cornish," explained Roden. "We are frozen, and want +some tea." + +Dorothy Roden came forward and shook hands with Cornish. She looked up +at him, taking him all in, in one quick intuitive glance, from his +smooth head to his neat boots. + +"It is horribly cold," she said. One cannot always be original and +sparkling, and it is wiser not to try too persistently. She turned and +re-entered the drawing-room, with Cornish following her. The room +itself was prettily furnished in the Dutch fashion, and there were +flowers. Dorothy Roden's manner was that of a woman; no longer in her +first girlhood, who had seen en and cities. She was better educated +than her brother; she was probably cleverer. She had, at all events, +the subtle air of self-restraint that marks those women whose lives are +passed in the society of a man mentally inferior to themselves. Of +course all women are in a sense doomed to this--according to their own +thinking. + + + +"Percy said that he would probably bring you in to tea," said Miss +Roden, "and that probably you would be tired out." + +"Thanks; I am not tired. We had a good passage, and everything has run +as smoothly. Do you take an active interest in us?" + +Miss Roden paused in the action of pouring out tea, and looked across +at her interlocutor. + +"Not an active one," she answered, with a momentary gravity; and, after +a minute, glanced at Cornish's face again. + +"It is going to be a big thing," he said enthusiastically. "My cousin +Joan Ferriby is working hard at it in London. You do not know her, I +suppose?" + +"I was at school with Joan," replied Miss Roden, with her soft laugh. + +"And we took a school-girl oath to write to each other every week when +we parted. We kept it up--for a fortnight." + +Cornish's smooth face betrayed no surprise; although he had concluded +that Miss Roden was years older than Joan. + +"Perhaps," he said, with ready tact, "you do not take an interest in +the same things as Joan. In what may be called new things--not clothes, +I mean. In factory girls' feather clubs, for instance, or haberdashers' +assistants, or women's rights, or anything like that." + +"No; I am not clever enough for anything like that. I am profoundly +ignorant about women's rights, and do not even know what I want, or +ought to want." + +Roden, who had approached the table, laughed, and taking his tea, went +and sat down near the fire. He, at all events, was tired and looked +worn--as if his responsibilities were already beginning to weigh upon +him. Cornish, too, had come forward, and, cup in hand, stood looking +down at Miss Roden with a doubtful air. + +"I always distrust women who say that," he said. "One naturally +suspects them of having got what they want by some underhand +means--and of having abandoned the rest of their sex. This is an age of +amalgamation; is not that so, Roden?" + +He turned and sat down near to Dorothy. Roden thus appealed to, made +some necessary remark, and then lapsed into a thoughtful silence. It +seemed that Cornish was quite capable, however, of carrying on the +conversation by himself. + +"Do you know nothing about your wrongs, either?" he asked Dorothy. + +"Nothing," she replied. "I have not even the wit to know that I have +any." + +"Good heavens!" he exclaimed. "No wonder Joan ceased writing to you. +You are a most suspicious case, Miss Roden. Of course you have righted +your wrongs--_sub rosa_--and leave other women to manage their own +affairs. That is what is called a blackleg. You are untrue to the +Union. In these days we all belong to some cause or another. We cannot +help it, and recent legislation adds daily to the difficulty. We must +either be rich or poor. At present the only way to live at peace with +one's poorer neighbours is to submit to a certain amount of robbery. +But some day the classes must combine to make a stand against the +masses. The masses are already combined. We must either be a man or a +woman. Some day the men must combine against the women, who are already +united behind a vociferous vanguard. May I have some more tea?" + +"I am afraid I have been left behind in the general advance," said Miss +Roden, taking his cup. + +"I am afraid so. Of course I don't know where we are advancing to----" +He paused and drank the tea slowly. "No one knows that," he added. + +"Probably to a point where we shall all suddenly begin fighting for +ourselves again." + +"That is possible," he said gravely, setting down his cup. "And now I +must find my way back to The Hague. Good night." + +"He is clever," said Dorothy, when Roden returned after having shown +Cornish the way. + +"Yes," answered Roden, without enthusiasm. + +"You do not seem to be pleased at the thought," she said carelessly. + +"Oh--it will be all right! If his cleverness runs in the right +direction." + + + + +CHAPTER VII + +OFFICIAL. + +"One may be so much a man of the world as to be nothing in the world." + + +Political Economy will some day have to recognize Philanthropy as a +possible--nay, a certain stumbling-block in the world's progress +towards that millennium when Supply and Demand shall sit down together +in peace. Charity is certainly sowing seed into the ridges of time +which will bear startling fruit in the future. For Charity does not +hesitate to close up an industry or interfere with a trade that +supplies thousands with their daily bread. Thus the Malgamite scheme so +glibly inaugurated by Lord Ferriby in his drawing-room bore fruit +within a week in a quarter to which probably few concerned had ever +thought of casting an eye. The price of a high-class tinted paper fell +in all the markets of the world. This paper could only be manufactured +with a large addition of malgamite to its other components. In what may +be called the prospectus of the Malgamite scheme it was stated that +this great charity was inaugurated for the purpose of relieving the +distress of the malgamiters--one of the industrial scandals of the +day--by enabling these afflicted men to make their deadly product at a +cheaper rate and without danger to themselves. This prospectus +naturally came to the hands of those most concerned, namely, the +manufacturers of coloured papers and the brokers who supply those +manufacturers with their raw material. + +Thus Lord Ferriby, beaming benignantly from a bower of chrysanthemums +on a certain evening one winter not so many years ago, set rolling a +small stone upon a steep hill. So, in fact, wags the world; and none of +us may know when the echo of a careless word will cease vibrating in +the hearts of some that hear. + +The malgamite trade was what is called a _close_ one--that is to say +that this product passed out into the world through the hands of a few +brokers and these brokers were powerless, in face of Lord Ferriby's +announcement, to prevent the price of malgamite from falling. As this +fell so fell the prices of the many kinds of paper which could not be +manufactured without it. Thus indirectly, Lord Ferriby, with that +obtuseness which very often finds itself in company with a highly +developed philanthropy, touched the daily lives of thousands and +thousands of people. And he did not know it. And Tony Cornish knew it +not. And Joan and the subscribers never dreamt or thought of such a +thing. + +The paper market became what is called sensitive--that is to say, +prices rose and fell suddenly without apparent reason. Some men made +money and others lost it. Presently, however--that is to say, in the +month of March--two months after Tony Cornish had safely conveyed his +malgamite makers to their new home on the sand dunes of +Scheveningen--the paper markets of the world began to settle down +again, and steadier prices ruled. This could be traced--as all +commercial changes may be traced--to the original flow at one of the +fountain-heads of supply and demand. It arose from the simple fact that +a broker in London had bought some of the new malgamite--the +Scheveningen malgamite--and had issued it to his clients, who said that +it was good. He had, moreover, bought it cheaper. In a couple of days +all the world--all the world concerned in the matter--knew of it. Such +is commerce at the end of the century. + +And Cornish, casually looking in at the little office of the Malgamite +Charity, where a German clerk recommended by Herr von Holzen kept the +books of the scheme, found his table littered with telegrams. Tony +Cornish had a reputation for being clever. He was, as a matter of fact, +intelligent. The world nearly always mistakes intelligence for +cleverness, just as it nearly always mistakes laughter for happiness. +He was, however, clever enough to have found out during the last two +months that the Malgamite scheme was a bigger thing than either he or +his uncle had ever imagined. + +Many questions had arisen during those two months of Cornish's honorary +secretary ship of the charity which he had been unable to answer, and +which he had been obliged to refer to Roden and Von Holzen. These had +replied readily, and the matter as solved by them seemed simple enough. +But each question seemed to have side issues--indeed, the whole scheme +appeared suddenly to bristle with side issues, and Tony Cornish began +to find himself getting really interested in something at last. + +The telegrams were not alone upon his office table. There were letters +as well. It was a nice little office, furnished by Joan with a certain +originality which certainly made it different from any other office in +Westminster. It had, moreover, the great recommendation of being above +a Ladies' Tea Association, so that afternoon tea could be easily +procured. The German clerk quite counted on receiving three +half-holidays a week and Joan brought her friends to tea, and her +mother to chaperon. These little tea-parties became quite notorious, +and there was a question of a cottage piano, which was finally +abandoned in favour of a banjo. It happened to be a wire-puzzle winter, +and Cornish had the best collection of rings on impossible wire mazes, +and glass beads strung upon intertwisted hooks, in Westminster, if not, +indeed, in the whole of London. Then, of course, there were the +committee meetings--that is to say, the meeting of the lady committees +of the bazaar and ball sub-committees. The wire puzzles and the +association tea were an immense feature of these. + +Cornish was quite accustomed to finding a number of letters awaiting +him, and had been compelled to buy a waste-paper basket of abnormal +dimensions--so many moribund charities cast envious eyes upon the +Malgamite scheme, and wondered how it was done, and, on the chance of +it, offered Cornish honourable honorary posts. But the telegrams had +been few, and nearly all from Roden. There was a letter from Roden this +morning. + +"DEAR CORNISH" (he wrote),-- + +"You will probably receive applications from malgamite workers in +different parts of the world for permission to enter our works. Accept +them all, and arrange for their enlistment as soon as possible. + +"Yours in haste, + +"P.R." + +Percy Roden was usually in haste, and wrote a bad letter in a beautiful +handwriting. + +Cornish turned to the telegrams. They were one and all applications +from malgamite makers--from Venice to Valparaiso--to be enrolled in the +Scheveningen group. He was still reading them when Lord Ferriby came +into the little office. His lordship was wearing a new fancy waistcoat. +It was the month of April--the month assuredly of fancy waistcoats +throughout all nature. Lord Ferriby was, as usual, rather pleased with +himself. He had walked down Piccadilly with great effect, and a bishop +had bowed to him, recognizing, in a sense, a lay bishop. + +"What have you got there, Tony?" he asked, affably, laying his smart +walking-stick on an inlaid bureau, which was supposed to be his, and +was always closed, and had nothing in it. + +"Telegrams," answered Cornish, "from malgamite makers, who want to join +the works at Scheveningen. Seventy-six of them. I don't quite +understand this business." + +"Neither do I," admitted Lord Ferriby, in a voice which clearly +indicated that if he only took the trouble he could understand +anything. "But I fancy it is one of the biggest things in charity that +has ever been started." + +In the company of men, and especially of young men, Lord Ferriby +allowed himself a little license in speech. He at times almost verged +on the slangy, which is, of course, quite correct and _de haut ton_, +and he did not want to be taken for an old buffer, as were his +contemporaries. Therefore he called himself an old buffer whenever he +could. _Qui s'excuse s'accuse._ + +"Of course," he added, "we must take the poor fellows." + +Without comment, Cornish handed him Roden's letter, and while Lord +Ferriby read it, employed himself in making out a list of the names and +addresses of the applicants. Cornish was, in fact, rising to the +occasion. In other circumstances Anthony Cornish might with favourable +influence--say that of a Scottish head clerk--have been made into what +is called a good business man. Without any training whatever, and with +an education which consisted only of a smattering of the classics and a +rigid code of honour, he usually perceived what it was wise to do. Some +people call this genius; others, luck. + +"I see," said Lord Ferriby, "that Roden is of the same opinion as +myself. A shrewd fellow, Roden." And he pulled down his fancy +waistcoat. + +"Then I may write, or telegraph, to these men, and tell them to come?" +asked Cornish. + +"Most certainly, my dear Anthony. We will collect them, or muster them, +as White calls it, in London, and then send them to Scheveningen, as +before, when Roden and Herr von Holzen are ready for them. Send a note +to White, whose department this mustering is. As a soldier he +understands the handling of a body of men. You and I are more competent +to deal with a sum of money." + +Lord Ferriby glanced towards the door to make sure that it was open, so +that the German clerk in the outer office should lose nothing that +could only be for his good--might, in fact, pick up a few crumbs from +the richly stored table of a great man's mind. + +Lord Ferriby leisurely withdrew his gloves and laid them on the inlaid +bureau. He had the physique of a director of public companies, and the +grave manner that impresses shareholders. He talked of the weather, +drew Cornish's attention to a blot of ink on the high-art wallpaper, +and then put on his gloves again, well pleased with himself and his +morning's work. + +"Everything appears to be in order, my dear Anthony," he said. +"So there is nothing to keep me here any longer." + +"Nothing," replied Cornish; and his lordship departed. + +Cornish remained until it was time to go across St. James's Park to his +club to lunch. He answered a certain number of letters himself, the +others he handed over to the German clerk--a man with all the virtues, +smooth, upright hair, and a dreamy eye. The malgamite makers were +bidden to come as soon as they liked. After luncheon Cornish had to +hurry back to Great George Street. This was one of his busy days. At +four o'clock there was to be a meeting of the floor committee of the +approaching ball, and Cornish remembered that he had been specially +told to get a new bass string for the banjo. The Hon. Rupert Dalkyn +had promised to come, but had vowed that he would not touch the banjo +again unless it had new strings. So Cornish bought the bass string at +the Army and Navy Stores, and the first preparation for the meeting of +the floor committee was the tuning of the banjo by the German clerk. + +There were, of course, flowers to be bought and arranged _tant bien que +mal_ in empty ink-stands, a conceit of Joan's, who refused to spend the +fund money in any ornament less serious, while she quite recognized the +necessity for flowers on the table of a mixed committee. + +The Hon. Rupert was the first to arrive. He was very small and neat and +rather effeminate. The experienced could tell at a glance that he came +from a fighting stock. He wore a grave and rather preoccupied air. He +sat down on the arm of a chair and looked sadly into the fire, while +his lips moved. + +"Got something on your mind?" asked Cornish, who was putting the +finishing touches to the arrangement of the room. + +"Yes, a new song composed for the occasion 'The Maudlin Malgamite'; +like to hear it?" + +"Well, I would rather wait. I think I hear a carriage at the door," +said Cornish, hastily. + +Rupert Dalkyn had to be elected to the floor committee because he was +Mrs. Courteville's brother, and Mrs. Courteville was the best chaperon +in London. She was not only a widow, but her husband had been killed in +rather painful circumstances. + +"Poor dear," the people said when she had done something perhaps a +little unusual--"poor dear; you know her husband was killed." + +So the late Courteville, in his lone grave by the banks of the Ogowe +River, watched over his wife's welfare, and made quite a nice place for +her in London society. + +Rupert himself had been intended for the Church, but had at Cambridge +developed such an exquisite sense of humour and so killing a power of +mimicry that no one of the dons was safe, and his friends told him that +he really mustn't. So he didn't. Since then Rupert had, to tell the +truth, done nothing. The exquisite sense of humour had also slightly +evaporated. People said, "Oh yes, very funny," than which nothing is + more fatal to humour; and elderly ladies smiled a pinched smile at one +side of their lips. It is so difficult to see a joke through those +long-handled eye-glasses. + + +Cornish was quite right when he said that he had heard a carriage, for +presently the door opened, and Mrs. Courteville came in. She was small +and slight--"a girlish figure," her maid told her--and well dressed. +She was just at that age when she did not look it--at an age, moreover, +when some women seem to combine a maximum of experience with a minimum +of thought. But who are we to pick holes in our neighbours' garments? +If any of us is quite sure that he is not doing more harm than good in +the world, let him by all means throw stones at Mrs. Courteville. + +Joan arrived next, accompanied by Lady Ferriby, who knew that if she +stayed at home she would only have to give tea to a number of people +towards whom she did not feel kindly enough disposed to reconcile +herself to the expense. Joan glanced hastily from Mrs. Courteville to +Tony. She had noticed that Mrs. Courteville always arrived early at the +floor committee meetings when these were held at the Malgamite office +or in Cornish's rooms. Joan wondered, while Mrs. Courteville was +kissing her, whether the widow had come with her brother or before him. + +"Has he not made the room look pretty with that mimosa?" asked Mrs. +Courteville, vivaciously. People did not know how matters stood +between Joan Ferriby and Tony Cornish, and always wanted to know. +That is why Mrs. Courteville said "he" only when she drew Joan's +attention to the flowers. + +The meeting may best be described as lively. We belong, however, to an +eminently practical generation, and some business was really +transacted. The night for the Malgamite ball was fixed, and a list of +stewards drawn up; and then the Hon. Rupert played the banjo. + +Lady Ferriby had some calls to pay, so Cornish volunteered to walk +across the park with Joan, who had a healthy love of exercise. They +talked of various matters, and of course returned again and again to +the Malgamite affairs. + +"By the way," said Joan, at the corner of Cambridge Terrace, "I had a +letter this morning from Dorothy Roden. I was at school with her, you +know, and never dreamt that Mr. Roden was her brother. In fact, I had +nearly forgotten her existence. She is coming across for the ball. She +says she saw you when you were at The Hague. You never mentioned her, +Tony." + +"Didn't I? She is not interested in the Malgamite scheme, you know. And +nobody who is not interested in that is worth mentioning." + +They walked on in silence for a few minutes. Then Cornish asked a +question. + +"What sort of person was she at school?" + +"Oh, she was a frivolous sort of girl--never took anything seriously, +you know. That is why she is not interested in the Malgamite, I +suppose." + +"I suppose so," said Tony Cornish. + + + + +CHAPTER VIII + +THE SEAMY SIDE. + +"For this is death, and the sole death, +When a man's loss comes to him from his gain." + + +Mrs. Vansittart told Roden that her house was in Park Street in The +Hague. But she did not mention that it was at the corner of Orange +Street, which makes all the difference. For Park Street is long, and +the further end of it--the extremity furthest removed from the Royal +Palace--is less desirable than the neighbourhood of the Vyverberg. Mrs. +Vansittart's house was in the most desirable part of a most desirable +little city. She was surrounded with houses inhabited by people bearing +names well known in history. These people are, moreover, of a +fascinating cosmopolitanism. They come from all parts of the world, in +an ancestral sense. There are, for instance, Dutch people living here +whose names are Scottish. There are others of French extraction, others +again whose forefathers came to Holland with the Don Juan of the +religious wars whose history reads like a romance. + +Outwardly Mrs. Vansittart's house was of dark red brick, with stone +facings, and probably belonged to that period which in England is +called Tudor. Inwardly the house was as comfortable as thick carpets +and rich curtains and beautiful carvings could make it. The Dutch are +pre-eminently the flower-growers of the world, and the observant +traveller walking along Orange Street may note even in midwinter that +the flowers in the windows are changed each day. In this, as in other +_menus plaisirs_, Mrs. Vansittart had assumed the ways of the country +of her adoption. For Holland suggests to the inquiring mind an elderly +gentleman, now getting a little stout, who, after a wild youth, is +beginning to appreciate the blessings of repose and comfort; who, +having laid by a small sufficiency, sits peaceably by the fire, and +reflects upon the days that are no more. + +It was Mrs. Vansittart's pleasant habit to surround herself with every +comfort. She was an eminently self-respecting person--of that +self-respect which denies itself nothing except excess. She liked to be +well dressed, well housed, and well served. She possessed money, and +with it she bought these adjuncts, which in a minor degree are within +the reach of nearly everybody, though few have the wit to value them. +She was not, however, a vociferously contented woman. Like many +another, she probably wanted something that money could not buy. + +Mrs. Vansittart, in fulfilment of her promise to Percy Roden, called on +Dorothy at the Villa des Dunes, who in due course came to the house at +the corner of Park Street and Orange Street to return the visit. +Dorothy had been out when Mrs. Vansittart called, but she thought she +knew from her brother's description what sort of woman to expect. For +Dorothy Roden had been educated abroad, and was not without knowledge +of a certain class of English lady to be met with on the Continent, who +is always well connected, invariably idle, and usually refers +gracefully to a great sorrow in the past. + +But Dorothy knew, as soon as she saw Mrs. Vansittart that she had +formed an entirely erroneous conception. This was not the sort of woman +to seek the admiration of the first-comer, and Percy Roden had allowed +his sister to surmise that, whether it had been sought or not, Mrs. +Vansittart had certainly been accorded his highest admiration. + +"It is good of you to return my call so soon," she said, in a friendly +voice. "You have walked, I suppose, all the way from the Villa des +Dunes. English girls are such great walkers now--a most excellent +thing. I belong to the semi-generation older than yours, which +preferred a carriage. I am an atrocious walker. You are not at all like +your brother." And she threw back her head and looked speculatively at +her visitor. "Sit down," she said, with a laugh. "You probably came +here harbouring a prejudice against me. One should never get to know a +woman through her men-folk. That is a rule almost without exception; +you may take it from one who is many years older than you. But--well, +_nous verrons_. Perhaps we are the exception." + +"I hope so," answered Dorothy, who was ready enough of speech. "At all +events, all that Percy told me made me anxious to meet you. It is +rather lonely, you know, at the Villa des Dunes. You see, Percy is +engaged all day with his malgamiters. And, of course, we know no one +here yet." + +"There is Herr von Holzen," suggested Mrs. Vansittart, ringing the bell +for tea. + +"Oh yes. The man who is associated with Percy at the works? I do not +know him. Percy has not brought him to the villa." + +"Ah! Is that so? That is nice of your brother. Sometimes men, you know, +make use of their wives or their sisters to help them in their business +relationships. I have known a man use his pretty daughter to gain a +client. Beauty levels all, you see. Not nice, no; I suppose Herr von +Holzen, is--well--let us call him a foreign savant. Such a nice broad +term, you know; covers such a plentiful lack of soap." And she laughed +easily, with eyes that were quite grave and alert. + +"My brother does not say much about him," answered Dorothy Roden. +"Percy never does tell me much of his affairs, and I am not sorry. I am +sure I should not understand them. Stocks and shares and freights and +things. I never quite know whether a freight is part of a ship; do +you?" + +"No. There are so many things more useful to know, are there +not?--things about people and human nature, for instance." + +"Yes," said Dorothy, looking at her companion thoughtfully--"yes." + +And Mrs. Vansittart returned that thoughtful glance. "And the other +man," she said suddenly, "Mr.--Cornish--do you know him?" + +"He called at the Villa des Dunes. My brother brought him in to tea the +evening of arrival of the first batch of malgamiters," replied Dorothy. + +"Mr. Cornish interests me," said Mrs. Vansittart. "I knew him when he +was a boy--or little more than a boy. He came to Weimar with a tutor to +learn German when I happened to be living there. I have heard of him +from time to time since. One sees his name in the society papers, you +know. He is one of those persons of whom something is expected by his +friends--not by himself. The young man who expects something of himself +is usually disappointed. Have you ever noticed in the biographies of +great men, Miss Roden that people nearly always began to expect +something of them when they were quite young? As if they were cast in a +different mould from the very first. Really great men, I mean not the +fashionable pianist or novelist of the hour whose portrait is in every +illustrated journal for perhaps two months, and then he is forgotten." + +Mrs. Vansittart spoke quickly in a foreign manner, asking with a +certain vivacity questions which required no answer. Dorothy Roden was +not slow of speech, but she touched topics with less airiness. Her mind +seemed a trifle insular in its tendencies. One topic attracted her, and +the rest were set aside. + +"Why does Mr. Cornish interest you?" she asked. + +Mrs. Vansittart shrugged her shoulders and leant back in her deep +chair. + +"He strikes me as a person with infinite capacity for holding his +cards. That is all. But perhaps he has no good cards in his hand? +Nothing but rubbish--the twos and threes of ordinary drawing-room +smartness--and never a trump. Who can tell? _Qui vivra verra_, +Miss. Roden. It may not be in my time that the world shall hear of Tony +Cornish--the real world, not the journalistic world, I mean. He may +ripen slowly, and I shall be dead. I am getting elderly. How old do you +think I am, Miss Roden?" + +"Thirty-five," replied Dorothy; and Mrs. Vansittart turned sharply to +look at her. + +"Ah!" she said, slowly and thoughtfully. "Yes, you are quite right. +That is my age. And I suppose I look it. I suppose others would have +guessed with equal facility, but not everybody would have had the +honesty to say what they thought." + +Dorothy laughed and changed colour. "I said it without thinking," she +answered. "I hope you do not mind." + +"No, I do not mind," said Mrs. Vansittart, looking out of the window. +"But we were talking of Mr. Cornish." + +"Yes," answered Dorothy, buttoning her glove and glancing at the clock. +"Yes; but I must not talk any longer or I shall be late, and my brother +expects to find me at home when he returns from the works." + +She rose and shook hands, looking Mrs. Vansittart in the eyes. When +Dorothy had gone, the lady of the house stood for a minute looking at +the closed door. + +"I wonder what she thinks of me?" she said. + +And Dorothy Roden, walking down Park Straat, was doing the same. She +was wondering what she thought of Mrs. Vansittart. + +Although it was the month of April, the winter mists still rose at +evening and swept seawards from the marshes of Leyden. The trees had +scarcely begun to break into bud, for it had been a cold spring, and +the ice was floating lazily on the canal as Dorothy walked along its +bank. The Villa des Dunes was certainly somewhat lonely, standing as it +did a couple of hundred yards back from a sandy road--one of the many +leading from The Hague to Scheveningen. Between the villa and the road +the dunes had scarcely been molested, except indeed, to cut a narrow +roadway to the house. When Dorothy reached home, she found that her +brother had not yet returned. She looked at the clock. He was later +than usual. The malgamite works had during the last few weeks been +absorbing more and more of his attention. When he returned home, tired, +in the evening, he was not communicative. As for Otto von Holzen, he +never showed his face outside the works now, but seemed to live the +life of a recluse within the iron fence that surrounded the little +colony. + +Percy Roden had not returned to the Villa des Dunes at the usual hour +because he had other work to do. Von Holzen and he were now standing in +one of the little huts in silence. The light of the setting sun glowed +through the window upon their faces, upon the bare walls of the room, +rendered barer and in no way beautified by a terrible German print +purporting to represent the features of Prince Bismarck. + +Von Holzen stood, with his hands clasped behind his back, and looked +out of the window across the dreary dunes. Roden stood beside him, +slouching and heavy-shouldered, with his hands in his trouser pockets. +His lower lip was pressed inward between his teeth. His eyes were drawn +and anxious. + +On the bed, between the two men, lay a third--an old-looking youth with +lank red hair. It was the story of St. Jacob Straat over again, and it +was new to Percy Roden, who could not turn his eyes elsewhere. The man +was dying. He was a Pole who understood no word of English. Indeed, +these three men had no language in common in which to make themselves +understood. + +"Can you do nothing at all?" asked Roden, for the second or third time. + +"Nothing," answered Von Holzen, without turning round. "He was a doomed +man when he came here." + +The man lay on the bed and stared at Von Holzen's back. Perhaps that +was the reason why Von Holzen so persistently looked out of the window. +The work-hours were over, and from some neighbouring cottage the sounds +of a concertina came on the quiet air. The musician had chosen a +popular music-hall song, which he played over and over again with a +maddening pertinacity. Roden bit his lip, and frowned at each +repetition of the opening bars. Von Holzen, with a still, pale face and +stern eyes, seemed to hear nothing. He had no nerves. At times he +twisted his lips, moistening them with his tongue, and suppressed an +impatient sigh. The man was a long time in dying. They had been waiting +there two hours. This little incident had to be passed over as quietly +as possible on account of the feelings of the concertina player and the +others. + +The door stood ajar, and in the adjoining room a professional nurse, in +cap and apron, sat reading a German newspaper. This also was a bedroom. +The cottage was, in point of fact, the hospital of the malgamite +workers. The nurse, whose services had not hitherto been wanted, had +since the inauguration of the works spent some pleasant weeks at a +pension at Scheveningen. She read her newspaper very philosophically, +and waited. + +Roden it was who watched the patient. The dying man never heeded him, +but looked persistently towards Von Holzen. The expression of his eyes +indicated that if they had had a language in common he would have +spoken to him. Roden saw the direction of the man's glance, and perhaps +read its meaning. For Percy Roden was handicapped with that greatest of +all drags on a successful career--a soft heart. He could speak harshly +enough of the malgamiters as a class, but he was drawn towards this +dumb individual, with a strong desire to effect the impossible. Von +Holzen had not promised that there should be no deaths. He had merely +undertaken to reduce the dangers of the malgamite industry gradually +and steadily until they ceased to exist. He had, moreover, the strength +of mind to give to this incident its proper weight in the balance of +succeeding events. He was not, in a word, handicapped as was his +colleague. + + +The sun set beyond the quiet sea and over the sand dunes the shades of +evening crept towards the west. The outline of Prince Bismarck's iron +face faded slowly in the gathering darkness, until it was nothing but a +shadow in a frame on the bare wall. The concertina player had laid +aside his instrument. A sudden silence fell upon land and sea. + +Von Holzen turned sharply on his heel and leant over the bed. + +"Come along," he said to Roden, with averted eyes. "It is all over. +There is nothing more for us to do here." + +With a backward glance towards the bed, Roden followed his companion, +out of the room into the adjoining apartment where the nurse was +sitting, and where their coats and hats lay on the bed. Von Holzen +spoke to the woman in German. + +"So!" she answered, with a mild interest, and folded her paper. + +The two men went out into the keen air together, and did not look +towards each other or speak. Perhaps they knew that if there is any +difficulty in speaking of a subject it is better to keep silence. They +crossed the sandy space between this cottage and the others grouped +round the factory like tents around their headquarters. One of these +huts was Von Holzen's--a three-roomed building where he worked and +slept. Its windows looked out upon the factory, and commanded the only +entrance to the railed enclosure within which the whole colony was +confined. It was Von Holzen's habit to shut himself within his cottage +for days together, living there in solitude like some crustacean within +its shell. At the door he turned, with his fingers on the handle. + +"You must not worry yourself about this," he said to Roden, with +averted eyes. "It cannot be helped, you know." + +"No; I know that." + + +"And of course we must keep our own counsel. Good night, Roden." + +"Of course. Good night, Von Holzen." + +And Percy Roden passed through the gateway, walking slowly across the +dunes towards his own house; while Von Holzen watched him from the +window of the little three-roomed cottage. + + + + +CHAPTER IX + +A SHADOW FROM THE PAST. + +"Le plus sur moyen d'arriver a son but c'est de ne pas faire de +rencontres en chemin." + + +"Yes, it was long ago--'lang, lang izt's her'--you remember the song +Frau Neumayer always sang. So long ago, Mr. Cornish, that----Well, it +must be Mr. Cornish, and not Tony." + +Mrs. Vansittart leant back in her comfortable chair and looked at her +visitor with observant eyes. Those who see the most are they who never +appear to be observing. It is fatal to have others say that one is so +sharp, and people said as much of Mrs. Vansittart, who had quick dark +eyes and an alert manner. + +"Yes," answered Cornish, "it is long ago, but not so long as all that." + +His smooth fair face was slightly troubled by the knowledge that the +recollections to which she referred were those of the Weimar days when +she who was now a widow had been a young married woman. Tony Cornish +had also been young in those days, and impressionable. It was before +the world had polished his surface bright and hard. And the impression +left of the Mrs. Vansittart of Weimar was that she was one of the rare +women who marry _pour le bon motif_. He had met her by accident in the +streets of The Hague a few hours ago, and having learnt her address, +had, in duty bound, called at the house at the corner of Park Straat +and Oranje Straat at the earliest calling hour. + +"I am not ignorant of your history since you were at Weimar," said the +lady, looking at him with an air of almost maternal scrutiny. + +"I have no history," he replied. "I never had a past even, a few years +ago, when every man who took himself seriously had at least one." + +He spoke as he had learnt to speak, with the surface of his +mind--with the object of passing the time and avoiding topics that +might possibly be painful. Many who appear to be egotistical must +assuredly be credited with this good motive. One is, at all events, +safe in talking of one's self. Sufficient for the social day is the +effort to avoid glancing at the cupboard where our neighbour keeps his +skeleton. + +A silence followed Cornish's heroic speech, and it was perhaps better +to face it than stave it off. + +"Yes," said Mrs. Vansittart, at the end of that pause, "I am a widow +and childless. I see the questions in your face." + +Cornish gave a little nod of the head, and looked out of the window. +Mrs. Vansittart was only a year older than himself, but the difference +in their life and experience, when they had learnt to know each other +at Weimar, had in some subtle way augmented the seniority. + +"Then you never--" he said, and paused. + +"No," she answered lightly. "So I am what the world calls independent, +you see. No encumbrance of any sort." + +Again he nodded without speaking. + +"The line between an encumbrance and a purpose is not very clearly +defined, is it?" she said lightly; and then added a question, "What are +you doing in The Hague--Malgamite?" + +"Yes," he answered, in surprise, "Malgamite." + +"Oh, I know all about it," laughed Mrs. Vansittart. "I see Dorothy +Roden at least once a week." + +"But she takes no part in it." + +"No; she takes no part in it, _mon ami_, except in so far as it affects +her brother and compels her to live in a sad little villa on the +Dunes." + +"And you--you are interested?" + +"Most assuredly. I have even given my mite. I am interested in"--she +paused and shrugged her shoulders--"in you, since you ask me, in +Dorothy, and in Mr. Roden. He gave the flowers at which you are so +earnestly looking, by the way." + +"Ah!" said Cornish, politely. + +"Yes," answered Mrs. Vansittart, with a passing smile. "He is kind +enough to give me flowers from time to time. You never gave me flowers, +Mr. Cornish, in the olden times." + +"Because I could not afford good ones." + +"And you would not offer anything more reasonable?" + +"Not to you," he answered. + +"But of course that was long ago." + +"Yes. I am glad to hear that you know Miss Roden. It will make the +little villa on the Dunes less sad. The atmosphere of malgamite is not +cheerful. One sees it at its best in a London drawing-room. It is one +of the many realities which have an evil odour when approached too +closely." + +"And you are coming nearer to it?" + +"It is coming nearer to me." + +"Ah!" said Mrs. Vansittart, examining the rings with which her fingers +were laden. "I thought there would be developments." + +"There are developments. Hence my presence in The Hague. Lord Ferriby +_et famille_ arrive to-morrow. Also my friend Major White." + +"The fighting man?" inquired Mrs. Vansittart. + +"Yes, the fighting man. We are to have a solemn meeting. It has been +found necessary to alter our financial basis----" + +Mrs. Vansittart held up a warning hand. "Do not talk to me of your +financial basis. I know nothing of money. It is not from that point of +view that I contemplate your Malgamite scheme." + +"Ah! Then, if one may inquire, from what point of view....?" + +"From the human point of view; as does every other woman connected with +it. We are advancing, I admit, but I think we shall always be willing +to leave the--financial basis--to your down-trodden sex." + +"It is very kind of you to be interested in these poor people," began +Cornish; but Mrs. Vansittart interrupted him vivaciously. + +"Poor people? Gott bewahre!" she cried. "Did you think I meant the +workers? Oh no! I am not interested in them. I am interested in your +Rodens and your Ferribys and your Whites, and even in your Tony +Cornish. I wonder who will quarrel and who will--well, do the contrary, +and what will come of it all? In my day young people were brought +together by a common pleasure, but that has gone out of fashion. And +now it is a common endeavour to achieve the impossible, to check the +stars in their courses by the holding of mixed meetings, and the +enunciation of second-hand platitudes respecting the poor and the +masses--this is what brings the present generation into that +intercourse which ends in love and marriage and death--the old +programme. And it is from that point of view alone, _mon ami_, that I +take a particle of interest in your Malgamite scheme." + +All of which Tony Cornish remembered later; for it was untrue. He rose +to take his leave with polite hopes of seeing her again. + +"Oh, do not hurry away," she said. "I am expecting Dorothy Roden, who +promised to come to tea. She will be disappointed not to see you." + +Cornish laughed in his light way. "You are kind in your assumptions," +he answered. "Miss Roden is barely aware of my existence, and would not +know me from Adam." + +Nevertheless he stayed, moving about the room for some minutes looking +at the flowers and the pictures, of which he knew just as much as was +desirable and fashionable. He knew what flowers were "in," such as +fuchsias and tulips, and what were "out," such as camellias and double +hyacinths. About the pictures he knew a little, and asked questions as +to some upon the walls that belonged to the Dutch school. He was of the +universe, universal. Then he sat down again unobtrusively, and Mrs. +Vansittart did not seem to notice that he had done so, though she +glanced at the clock. + +A few minutes later Dorothy came in. She changed colour when Mrs. +Vansittart half introduced Cornish with the conventional, "I think you +know each other." + +"I knew you were coming to The Hague," she said, shaking hands with +Cornish. "I had a letter from Joan the other day. They all are coming, +are they not? I am afraid Joan will be very much disappointed in me. +She thinks I am wrapped up heart and soul in the malgamiters--and I am +not, you know." + +She turned with a little laugh, and appealed to Mrs. Vansittart, who +was watching her closely, as if Dorothy were displaying some quality or +point hitherto unknown to the older woman. The girl's eyes were +certainly brighter than usual. + +"Joan takes some things very seriously," answered Cornish. + +"We all do that," said Mrs. Vansittart, without looking up from the +tea-table at which she was engaged. "Yes; it is a mistake, of course." + +"Possibly," assented Mrs. Vansittart. "Do you take sugar, Miss Roden?" + +"Yes, please--seriously. Two pieces." + +"Are you like Joan?" asked Cornish, as he gave her the cup. "Do you +take anything else seriously?" + +"Oh no," answered Dorothy Roden, with a laugh. + +"And your brother?" inquired Mrs. Vansittart. "Is he coming this +afternoon?" + +"He will follow me. He is busy with the new malgamiters who arrived +this morning. I suppose you brought them, Mr. Cornish?" + +"Yes, I brought them. Twenty-four of them--the dregs, so to speak. The +very last of the malgamiters, collected from all parts of the world. I +was not proud of them." + +He sat down and quickly changed the conversation, showing quite clearly +that this subject interested him as little as it interested his +companions. He brought the latest news from London, which the ladies +were glad enough to hear. For to Dorothy Roden, at least, The Hague was +a place of exile, where men lived different lives and women thought +different thoughts. Are there not a hundred little rivulets of news +which never flow through the journals, but are passed from mouth to +mouth, and seem shallow enough, but which, uniting at last, form a +great stream of public opinion, and this, having formed itself +imperceptibly, is suddenly found in full flow, and is so obvious that +the newspapers forget to mention it? Thus colonists and other exiles +returning to England, and priding themselves upon having kept in touch +with the progress of events and ideas in the old country, find that +their thoughts have all the while been running in the wrong +channels--that seemingly great events have been considered very small, +that small ideas have been lifted high by the babbling crowd which is +vaguely called society. + +From Tony Cornish, Mrs. Vansittart and Dorothy learnt that among other +social playthings charity was for the moment being laid aside. We have +inherited, it appears, a great box of playthings, and the careful + student of history will find that none of the toys are new--that they +have indeed been played with by our forefathers, who did just as we do. +They took each toy from the box, and cried aloud that it was new, that +the world had never seen its like before. Had it not, indeed? Then +presently the toy--be it charity, or a new religion, or sentiment, or +greed of gain, or war--is thrown back into the box again, where it lies +until we of a later day drag it forth with the same cry that it is new. +We grow wild with excitement over South African mines, and never +recognize the old South Sea bubble trimmed anew to suit the taste of +the day. We crow with delight over our East End slums, and never +recognize the patched-up remnants of the last Crusade that fizzled out +so ignominiously at Acre five hundred years ago. + +So Tony Cornish, who was _dans le movement_ gently intimated to his +hearers that what may be called a robuster tone ruled the spirit of the +age. Charity was going down, athletics were coming up. Another +Olympiad had passed away. Wise indeed was Solon, who allowed four years +for men to soften and to harden again. During the Olympiads it is to be +presumed that men busied themselves with the slums that existed in +those days, hearkened to the decadent poetry or fiction of that time, +and then, as the robuster period of the games came round, braced +themselves once more to the consideration of braver things. + +It appeared, therefore, that the Malgamite scheme was already a thing +of the past so far as social London was concerned. A sensational +'Varsity boat-race had given charity its _coup de grace_, had ushered +in the spring, when even the poor must shift for themselves. + +"And in the mean time," commented Mrs. Vansittart, "here are four +hundred industrials landed, if one may so put it, at The Hague." + +"Yes; but that will be all right," retorted Cornish, with his gay +laugh. "They only wanted a start. They have got their start. What more +can they desire? Is not Lord Ferriby himself coming across? He is at +the moment on board the Flushing boat. And he is making a great +sacrifice, for he must be aware that he does not look nearly so +impressive on the Continent as he does, say in Piccadilly, where the +policemen know him, and even the newspaper boys are dimly aware that +this is no ordinary man to whom one may offer a halfpenny Radical +paper----" + +Cornish broke off, and looked towards the door, which was at this +moment thrown open by a servant, who announced--"Herr Roden. Herr von +Holzen." + +The two men came forward together, Roden slouching and +heavy-shouldered, but well dressed; Von Holzen smaller, compacter, with +a thoughtful, still face and calculating eyes. Roden introduced his +companion to the two ladies. It is possible that a certain reluctance +in his manner indicated the fact that he had brought Von Holzen against +his own desire. Either Von Holzen had asked to be brought or Mrs. +Vansittart had intimated to Roden that she would welcome his associate, +but this was not touched upon in the course of the introduction. +Cornish looked gravely on. Von Holzen was betrayed into a momentary +gaucheness, as if he were not quite at home in a drawing-room. + + + + +Roden drew forward a chair, and seated himself near to Mrs. Vansittart +with an air of familiarity which the lady seemed rather to invite than +to resent. They had, it appeared, many topics in common. Roden had come +with the purpose of seeing Mrs. Vansittart, and no one else. Her +manner, also, changed as soon as Roden entered the room, and seemed to +appeal with a sort of deference to his judgment of all that she said or +did. It was a subtle change, and perhaps no one noticed it, though +Dorothy, who was exchanging conventional remarks with Von Holzen, +glanced across the room once. + +"Ah," Von Holzen was saying in his grave way, with his head bent a +little forward, as if the rounded brow were heavy--"ah, but I am only +the chemist, Miss Roden. It is your brother who has placed us on our +wonderful financial basis. He has a head for finance, your brother, and +is quick in his calculations. He understands money, whereas I am only a +scientist." + +He spoke English correctly but slowly, with the Dutch accent, which is +slighter and less guttural than the German. Dorothy was interested in +him, and continued to talk with him, leaving Cornish standing at a +little distance, teacup in hand. Von Holzen was in strong contrast to +the two Englishmen. He was graver, more thoughtful, a man of deeper +purpose and more solid intellect. There was something dimly Napoleonic +in the direct and calculating glance of his eyes, as if he never looked +idly at anything or any man. It was he who made a movement after the +lapse of a few moments only, as if, having recovered his slight +embarrassment, he did not intend to stay longer than the merest +etiquette might demand. He crossed the room, and stood before Mrs. +Vansittart, with his heels clapped well together, making the most +formal conversation, which was only varied by a stiff bow. + +"I have a friendly recollection," he said, preparing to take his leave, +"of a Charles Vansittart, a student at Leyden, with whom I was brought +into contact again in later life. He was, I believe, from Amsterdam, of +an English mother." + +"Ah!" replied Mrs. Vansittart. "Mine is a common name." + +And they bowed to each other in the foreign way. + + + + +CHAPTER X + +DEEPER WATER. + +"Une bonne intention est une echelle trop courte." + + +"I have had considerable experience in such matters, and I think I may +say that the new financial scheme worked out by Mr. Roden and myself is +a sound one," Lord Ferriby was saying in his best manner. + +He was addressing Major White, Tony Cornish, Von Holzen, and Percy +Roden, convened to a meeting in the private _salon_ occupied by the +Ferribys at the Hotel of the Old Shooting Gallery, at The Hague. + +The _salon_ in question was at the front of the house on the first +floor, and therefore looked out upon the Toornoifeld, where the trees +were beginning to show a tender green, under the encouragement of a + treacherous April sun. Major White, seated bolt upright in his chair, +looked with a gentle surprise out of the window. He had so small an +opinion of his understanding that he usually begged explanatory persons +to excuse him. "No doubt you're quite right, but it's no use trying to +explain it to _me_, don't you know," he was in the habit of saying, and +his attitude said no less at the present moment. + + +Von Holzen, with his chin in the palm of his hand, watched Lord +Ferriby's face with a greater attention than that transparent +physiognomy required. Roden's attention was fully occupied by the +papers on the table in front of him. He was seated by Lord Ferriby's +side, ready to prompt or assist, as behoved a merely mechanical +subordinate. Lord Ferriby, dimly conscious of this mental attitude, had +spoken Roden's name with considerable patronage, and with the evident +desire to give every man his due. Cornish, in his quick and superficial +way, glanced from one face to the other, taking in _en passant_ any +object in the room that happened to call for a momentary attention. He +noted the passive and somewhat bovine surprise on White's face, and +wondered whether it owed its presence thereto astonishment at finding +himself taking part in a committee meeting or amazement at the +suggestion that Lord Ferriby should be capable of evolving any scheme, +financial or otherwise, out of his own brain. The committee thus +summoned was a fair sample of its kind. Here were a number of men + dividing a sense of responsibility among them so impartially that there +was not nearly enough of it to go round. In a multitude of councilors +there may be safety, but it is assuredly the councillors only who are +safe. + +"The reasons," continued Lord Ferriby, "why it is inexpedient to +continue in our present position as mere trustees of a charitable fund +are too numerous to go into at the present moment. Suffice it to say +that there are many such reasons, and that I have satisfied myself of +their soundness. Our chief desire is to ameliorate the condition of the +malgamite workers. It must assuredly suggest itself to any one of us +that the best method of doing this is to make the malgamite workers an +independent corporation, bound together by the greatest of ties, a +common interest." + +The speaker paused, and turned to Roden with a triumphant smile, as +much as to say, "There, beat that if you can." + +Roden could not beat it, so he nodded thoughtfully, and examined the +point of his pen. + +"Gentlemen," said Lord Ferriby, impressively, "the greatest common +interest is a common purse." + +As the meeting was too small for applause, Lord Ferriby only allowed +sufficient time for this great truth to be assimilated, and then +continued--"It is proposed, therefore, that we turn the Malgamite +Works into a company, the most numerous shareholders to be the +malgamiters themselves. The most numerous shareholders, mark +you--not the heaviest shareholders. These shall be ourselves. We +propose to estimate the capital of the company at ten thousand pounds, +which, as you know, is, approximately speaking, the amount +raised by our appeals on behalf of this great charity. We shall divide +this capital into two thousand five-pound shares, allot one share to +each malgamite worker--say five hundred shares--and retain the +rest--say fifteen hundred shares--ourselves. Of those fifteen hundred, +it is proposed to allot three hundred to each of us. Do I make myself +clear?" + +"Yes," answered Major White, optimistically polishing his eye-glass +with a pocket-handkerchief. "Any ass could understand that." + +"Our friend Mr. Roden," continued his lordship, "who, I mention in +passing, is one of the finest financiers with whom I have ever had + relationship, is of opinion that this company, having its works in +Holland, should not be registered as a limited company in England. The +reasons for holding such an opinion are, briefly, connected with the +interference of the English law in the management of a limited +liability company formed for the sole purpose of making money. +We are not disposed to classify ourselves as such a company. We are not +disposed to pay the English income tax on money which is intended for +distribution in charity. Each malgamite worker, with his one share, is +not, precisely speaking, so much a shareholder as a participator in +profits. We are not in any sense a limited liability company." + +That Lord Ferriby had again made himself clear was sufficiently +indicated by the fact that Major White nodded his head at this juncture +with portentous gravity and wisdom. + +"As to the question of profit and loss," continued Lord Ferriby, "I am +not, unfortunately, a business man myself, but I think we are all aware +that the business part of the Malgamite scheme is in excellent hands. +It is not, of course, intended that we, as shareholders, shall in any +way profit by this new financial basis. We are shareholders in name +only, and receive profits, if profits there be, merely as trustees of +the Malgamite Fund. We shall administer those profits precisely as we +have administered the fund--for the sole benefit of the malgamite +workers. The profits of these poor men, earned on their own share, may +reasonably be considered in the light of a bonus. So much for the basis +upon which I propose that we shall work. The matter has had Mr. Roden's +careful consideration, and I think we are ready to give our consent to +any proposal which has received so marked a benefit. There are, of +course, many details which will require discussion----Eh?" + +Lord Ferriby broke off short, and turned to Roden, who had muttered a +few words. + +"Ah--yes. Yes, certainly. Mr. Roden will kindly spare us details as +much as possible." + +This was considerate and somewhat appropriate, as Tony Cornish had +yawned more than once. + +"Now as to the past," continued Lord Ferriby. "The works have been +going for more than three months, and the result has been uniformly +satisfactory----Eh?" + +"Many deaths?" inquired White, stolidly repeating his question. + +"Deaths? Ah--among the workers? Yes, to be sure. Perhaps Mr. von Holzen +can tell you better than I." + +And his lordship bowed in what he took to be the foreign manner across +the table. + +"Yes," replied Von Holzen, quietly, "there have, of course, been +deaths, but not so many as I anticipated. The majority of the men had, +as Mr. Cornish will tell you, death written on their faces when they +arrived at The Hague." + +"They certainly looked seedy," admitted Tony. + +"We will, I think, turn rather to the--eh--er--living," said Lord +Ferriby, turning over the papers in front of him with a slightly +reproachful countenance. He evidently thought it rather bad form of +White to pour cold water over his new whitewash. For Lord Ferriby's was +that charity which hopeth all things, and closeth her eye to practical +facts, if these be discouraging. "I have here the result of the three +months' work." + +He looked at the papers with so condescending an air that it was quite +evident that, had he been a business man and not a lord, he would have +understood them at a glance. There was a short silence while he turned +over the closely written sheets with an air of approving interest. + +"Yes," he said, as if during those moments he had run his eye up all +the column of figures and found them correct, "the result, as I say, +gentlemen, has been most satisfactory. We have manufactured a malgamite +which has been well received by the paper-makers. We have, furthermore, +been able to supply at the current rate without any serious loss. We +are increasing our plant, and the day is not so far distant when we +may, at all events, hope to be self-supporting." + +Lord Ferriby sat up and pulled down his waistcoat, a sure signal that +the fountain of his garrulous inspiration was for the moment dried up. + +With great presence of mind Tony Cornish interposed a question which +only Roden could answer, and after the consideration of some +statistics, the proceedings terminated. It had been apparent all +through that Percy Roden was the only business man of the party. +In any question of figures or statistics his colleagues showed plainly +that they were at sea. Lord Ferriby had in early life been managed by +a thrifty mother, who had in due course married him to a thrifty wife. +Tony Cornish's business affairs had been narrowed down to the financial +fiasco of a tailor's bill far beyond his facilities. Major White had, +in his subaltern days, been despatched from Gibraltar on a business +quest into the interior of Spain to buy mules there for his Queen and +country. He fell out with a dealer at Ronda, whom he knocked down, and +returned to Gibraltar branded as unbusiness-like and hasty, and there +his commercial enterprise had terminated. Von Holzen was only a +scientist, a fact of which he assured his colleagues repeatedly. + +If plain speaking be a sign of friendship, then women are assuredly +capable of higher flights than men. A lifelong friendship between two +women usually means that they quarrelled at school, and have retained +in later days the privilege of mutual plain speaking. If Jones, who was +Tompkins's best man, goes yachting with Tompkins in later days, these +two sinners are quite capable of enjoying themselves immensely in the +present without raking about among the ashes of the past to seek the +reason why Tompkins persisted, in spite of his friends' advice, in +making an idiot of himself over that Robinson girl--Jones standing by +all the while with the ring in his waistcoat pocket. Whereas, if the +friendship existed between the respective ladies of Jones and Tompkins, +their conversation will usually be found to begin with: "I always told +you, Maria, when we were girls together," or, "Well, Jane, when we were +at school you never would listen to me." A man's friendship is +apparently based upon a knowledge of another's redeeming qualities. A +woman's dearest friend is she whose faults will bear the closest +investigation. + +It was doubtless owing to these trifling variations in temperament that +Joan Ferriby learnt more about The Hague and Percy Roden and Otto von +Holzen, and lastly, though not leastly, Mrs. Vansittart, in ten minutes +than Tony Cornish could have learnt in a month of patient +investigation. The first five of these ten precious minutes were spent +in kissing Dorothy Roden, and admiring her hat, and holding her at +arm's length, and saying, with conviction, that she was a dear. Then +Joan asked why Dorothy had ceased writing, and Dorothy proved that it +was Joan who had been in default, and lo! a bridge was thrown across +the years, and they were friends once more. + +"And you mean to tell me," said Joan, as they walked up the Korte +Voorhout towards the canal and the Wood, "that you don't take any +interest in the Malgamite scheme?" + +"No," answered Dorothy. "And I am weary of the very word." + +"But then you always were rather--well, frivolous, weren't you?" + +"I did not take lessons as seriously as you, perhaps, if that is what +you mean," admitted Dorothy. + +And Joan, who had come across to Holland full of zeal in well-doing, +and as seriously as ever Queen Marguerite sailed to the Holy Land, +walked on in silence. The trees were just breaking into leaf, and the +air was laden with a subtle odour of spring. The Korte Voorhout is, as +many know, a short broad street, spotlessly clean, bordered on either +side by quaint and comfortable houses. The traffic is usually limited +to one carriage going to the Wood, and on the pavement a few leisurely +persons engaged in taking exercise in the sunshine. It was a different +atmosphere to that from which Joan had come, more restful, purer +perhaps, and certainly healthier, possibly more thoughtful; and +charity, above all virtues, to be practiced well must be practiced +without too much reflection. He who lets wisdom guide his bounty too +closely will end by giving nothing at all. + +"At all events," said Joan, "it is splendid of Mr. Roden to work so +hard in the cause, and to give himself up to it as he does." + +"Ye--es." + +Joan turned sharply and looked at her companion. Dorothy Roden's face +was not, perhaps, easy to read, especially when she turned, as she +turned now, to meet an inquiring glance with an easy smile. + +"I have known so many of Percy's schemes," she explained, "that you +must not expect me to be enthusiastic about this." + +"But this must succeed, whatever may have happened to the others," +cried Joan. "It is such a good cause. Surely nothing can be a better +aim than to help such afflicted people, who cannot help themselves, +Dorothy! And it is so splendidly organized. Why, Mr. Johnson, the +labour expert, you know, who wears no collar and a soft hat, said that +it could not have been better organized if it had been a strike. And a +Bishop Somebody--a dear old man with legs like a billiard-table--said +it reminded him of the early Christians' _esprit de corps_, or +something like that. Doesn't sound like a bishop, though, does it?" + +"No, it doesn't," admitted Dorothy, doubtfully. + +"So if your brother thinks it will not succeed," said Joan, +confidently, "he is wrong. Besides"--in a final voice--"he has Tony to +help him, you know." + +"Yes," said Dorothy, looking straight in front of her, "of course he +has Mr. Cornish." + +"And Tony," pursued Joan, eagerly, "always succeeds. There is something +about him--I don't know what it is." + +Dorothy recollected that Mrs. Vansittart had said something like this +about Tony Cornish. She had said that he had the power of holding his +cards and only playing them at the right moment. Which is perhaps +the secret of success in life, namely, to hold one's cards, and, if the +right moment does not present itself, never to play them at all, but to +hold them to the end of the game, contenting one's self with the +knowledge that one has had, after all, the makings of a fine game that +might have been worth the playing. + +"There are people, you know," Joan broke in earnestly, "who think that +if they can secure Tony for a picnic the weather will be fine." + +"And does he know it?" asked Dorothy, rather shortly. + +"Tony?" laughed Joan. "Of course not. He never thinks about anything +like that." + + + + +CHAPTER XI. + +IN THE OUDE WEG. + +"Le sage entend a demi mot." + + +The porter of the hotel on the Toornoifeld was enjoying his early +cigarette in the doorway, when he was impelled by a natural politeness +to stand aside for one of the visitors in the hotel. + +"Ah!" he said. "You promenade yourself thus early?" + +"Yes," answered Cornish, cheerily, "I promenade myself thus early." + +"You have had your coffee?" asked the porter. "It is not good to go +near the canals when one is empty." + +Cornish lingered a few minutes, and made the man's mind easy on this +point. There are many who obtain a vast deal of information without +ever asking a question, just as there are some--and they are mostly +women--who ask many questions and are told many lies. Tony Cornish had +a cheery way with him which made other men talk. He was also as quick +as a woman. He went about the world picking up information. + +The city clocks were striking seven as he walked across the +Toornoifeld, where the morning mist still lingered among the trees. The +great square was almost deserted. Holland, unlike France, is a lie-abed +country, and at an hour when a French town would be astir and its +streets already thronged with people hurrying to buy or sell at the +greatest possible advantage, a Dutch city is still asleep. Park Straat +was almost deserted as Cornish walked briskly down it towards the +Willem's Park and Scheveningen. A few street cleaners were leisurely +working, a few milkmen were hurrying from door to door, but the houses +were barred and silent. + +Cornish walked on the right-hand side of the road, which made it all +the easier for Mrs. Vansittart to perceive him from her bedroom window +as he passed Oranje Straat. + +"Ah!" said that lady, and rang the bell for her maid, to whom she +explained that she had a sudden desire to take a promenade this fine +morning. + +So Tony Cornish walked down the Oude Weg under the trees of that great +thoroughfare, with Mrs. Vansittart following him leisurely by one of +the side paths, which, being elevated above the road enabled her to +look down upon the Englishman and keep him in sight. When he came +within view of the broad road that cuts the Scheveningen wood in two +and leads from the East Dunes to the West--from the Malgamite Works, in +a word, to the cemetery--he sat down on a bench hidden by the trees. +And Mrs. Vansittart, a hundred yards behind him, took possession of a +seat as effectually concealed. + +They remained thus for some time, the object of a passing curiosity to +the fish-merchants journeying from Scheveningen to The Hague. Then Tony +Cornish seemed to perceive something on the road towards the sea which +interested him, and Mrs. Vansittart, rising from her seat, walked down +to the main pathway, which commanded an uninterrupted view. That which +had attracted Cornish's attention was a funeral, cheap, sordid, and +obscure, which moved slowly across the Oude Weg by the road, crossing +it at right angles. It was a peculiar funeral, inasmuch as it consisted +of three hearses and one mourning carriage. The dead were, therefore, +almost as numerous as the living, an unusual feature in civil burials. +From the window of the rusty mourning coach there looked a couple of +debased countenances, flushed with drink and that special form of +excitement which is especially associated with a mourning coach hired +on credit and a funeral beyond one's means. Behind these two faces +loomed others. There seemed to be six men within the carriage. + +The procession was not inspiriting, and Cornish's face was momentarily +grave as he watched it. When it had passed, he rose and walked slowly +back towards The Hague. Before he had gone far, he met Mrs. Vansittart +face to face, who rose from a seat as he approached. + +"Well, _mon ami_," she asked, with a short laugh, "have you had a +pleasant walk?" + +"It has had a pleasant end, at all events," he replied, meeting her +glance with an imperturbable smile. + +She jerked her head upwards with a little foreign gesture of +indifference. + +"It is to be presumed," she said, as they walked on side by side, "that +you have been exploring and investigating our--byways. Remember, my +good Tony, that I live in The Hague, and may therefore be possessed of +information that might be useful to you. It will probably be at your +disposal when you need it." + +She looked at him with daring black eyes, and laughed. A strong man +usually takes a sort of pride in his power. This woman enjoyed the same +sort of exultation in her own cleverness. She was not wise enough to +hide it, which is indeed a grim, negative pleasure usually enjoyed by +elderly gentlemen only. Social progress has, moreover, made it almost a +crime to hide one's light under a bushel. Are we not told, in so many +words, by the interviewer and the personal paragraphist, that it is +every man's duty to set his light upon a candlestick, so that his +neighbour may at least try to blow it out? + +Cornish had learnt to know Mrs. Vansittart at a period in her life +when, as a young married woman, she regarded all her juniors with a +matronly goodwill, none the less active that it was so exceedingly new. +She had in those days given much good advice, which Cornish had +respectfully heard. Fate had brought them together at the rare moment +and in almost the sole circumstances that allow of a friendship being +formed between a man and a woman. + +They walked slowly side by side now under the trees of the Oude Weg, +inhaling the fresh morning air, which was scented by a hundred breaths +of spring, and felt clean to face and lips. Mrs. Vansittart had no +intention of resigning her position of mentor and friend. It was, +moreover, one of those positions which will not bear being defined in +so many words. Between men and women it often happens that to point out +the existence of certain feelings is to destroy them. To say, "Be my +friend," as often as not makes friendship impossible. Mrs. Vansittart +was too clever a woman to run such a risk in dealing with a man in whom +she had detected a reserve of which the rest of the world had taken no +account. It is unwise to enter into war or friendship without seeing to +the reserves. + +"Do you remember," asked Mrs. Vansittart, suddenly, "how wise we were +when we were young? What knowledge of the world, what experience of +life one has when all life is before one!" + +"Yes," admitted Cornish, guardedly. + +"But if I preached a great deal, I at all events did you no harm," said +Mrs. Vansittart, with a laugh. + +"No." + +"And as to experience, well, one buys that later." + +"Yes; and the wise re-sell--at a profit," laughed Cornish. "It is not a +commodity that any one cares to keep. If we cannot sell it, we offer it +for nothing, to the young." + +"Who accept it, at an even lower valuation; and you and I, Mr. Tony +Cornish, are cynics who talk cheap epigrams to hide our thoughts." + +They walked on for a few yards in silence. Then Tony turned in his +quick way and looked at her. He had thin, mobile lips, which expressed +friendship and curiosity at this moment. + +"What are _you_ thinking?" he asked. + +She turned and looked at him with grave, searching eyes, and when these +met his it became apparent that their friendship had re-established +itself. + +"Of your affairs," she answered, "and funerals." + +"Both lugubrious," suggested Cornish. "But I am obliged to you for so +far honouring me." + +He broke off, and again walked on in silence. She glanced at him half +angrily, and gave a quick shrug of the shoulders. + +"Then you will not speak," she said, opening her parasol with a snap. +"So be it. The time has perhaps not come yet. But if I am in the humour +when that time does come, you will find that you have no ally so strong +as I. Ah, you may stick your chin out and look as innocent as you like! +You are not easy in your mind, my good friend, about this precious +Malgamite scheme. But I ask no confidences, and, _bon Dieu_! I give +none." + +She broke off with a little laugh, and looked at him beneath the shade +of her parasol. She had a hundred foreign ways of putting a whole +wealth of meaning into a single gesture, into a movement of a parasol +or a fan, such as women acquire, and use upon poor defenceless men, who +must needs face the world with stolid faces and slow, dumb hands. + +Cornish answered the laugh readily enough. "Ah!" he said, "then I am +accused of uneasiness of mind of preoccupation, in fact. I plead +guilty. I made a mistake. I got up too early. It was a fine morning, +and I was tempted to take a walk before breakfast, which we have at +half-past nine, in a fine old British way. We have toast and a fried +sole. Great is the English milord!" + +They were in Park Straat now, in sight of Mrs. Vansittart's house. And +that lady knew that her companion was talking in order to say nothing. + +"We leave this morning," continued Cornish, in the same vein. "And we +rather flatter ourselves that we have upheld the dignity of our nation +in these benighted foreign parts." + +"Ah, that poor Lord Ferriby! It is so easy to laugh at him. You think +him a fool, although--or because--he is your uncle. So do I, perhaps. +But I always have a little distrust for the foolishness of a person +who has once been a knave. You know your uncle's reputation--the past +one, I mean, not the whitewash. Do not forget it." They had reached the +corner of Oranje Straat, and Mrs. Vansittart paused on her own +doorstep. "So you leave this morning," she said. "Remember that I am in +The Hague, and--well, we were once friends. If I can help you, make use +of me. You have been wonderfully discreet, my friend. And I have not. +But discretion is not required of a woman. If there is anything to tell +you, you shall hear from me." + +She held out her hand, and bade him good-bye with a semi-malicious +laugh. Then she stood in the porch, and watched him walk quickly away. + +"So it is Dorothy Roden," she said to herself, with a wise nod. "A +queer case. One of those at first sight, one may suppose." + +The Rodens, of whom she thought at the moment, were not only thinking, +but speaking of her. They had finished breakfast, and Dorothy was +standing at the window looking out over the Dunes towards the sea. +Her brother was still seated at the table, and had lighted a cigarette. +Like many another who offers an exaggerated respect to women as a +whole, he was rather inclined to Bohemianism at home, and denied to +his immediate feminine relations the privileges accorded to their sex +in general. He was older than Dorothy, who had always been dependent +upon him to a certain extent. She had a little money of her own, and +quite recognized the fact that, should her brother marry, she would +have to work for her living. In the mean time, however, it suited them +both to live together, and Dorothy had for her brother that affection +of which only women are capable. It amounts to an affectionate +tolerance more than to a tolerant affection. For it perceives its +object's little failings with a calm and judicial eye. It weighs the +man in the balance, and finds him wanting. This, moreover, is the lot +of a large proportion of women. This takes the place of that higher +feeling which is probably the finest emotion of which the human heart +is capable. And yet there are men who grudge these sufferers their +petty triumphs, their poor little emancipation, their paltry +wrangler-ships, their very bicycles. + +"You don't like this place--I know that," Percy Roden was saying, in +continuation of a desultory conversation. He looked up from the letters +before him with a smile which was kind enough and a little patronizing. +Patronage is perhaps the armour of the outwitted. + +"Not very much," answered Dorothy, with a laugh. "But I dare say it +will be better in the summer." + +"I mean this villa," pursued Roden, flicking the ash from his cigarette +and leaning back in his chair. He had grand, rather tired gestures, +which possibly impressed some people. Grandeur, however, like +sentiment, is not indigenous to the hearth. Our domestic admirers are +not always watching us. + +Dorothy was looking out of the window. "It is not a bad little place," +she said practically, "when one has grown accustomed to its sandiness." + +"It will not be for long," said Percy Roden. + +And his sister turned and looked at him with a sudden gravity. + +"Ah!" she said. + +"No; I have been thinking that it will be better for us to move into +The Hague--Park Straat or Oranje Straat." + +Dorothy turned and faced him now. There was a faint, far-off +resemblance between these two, but Dorothy had the better +face--shrewder, more thoughtful, cleverer. Her eyes, instead of being +large and dark and rather dreamy, were grey and speculative. Her +features were clear-cut and well-cut--a face suggestive of feeling and +of self-suppression, which, when they go together, go to the making of +a satisfactory human being. This was a woman who, to put it quite +plainly, would scarcely have been held in honour by our grandmothers, +but who promised well enough for her possible granddaughters; who, when +the fads are lived down and the emancipation is over and the shrieking +is done, will make a very excellent grandmother to a race of women who +shall be equal to men and respected of men, and, best of all, beloved +of men. Wise mothers say that their daughters must sooner or later pass +through an awkward age. Woman is passing through an awkward age now, +and Dorothy Roden might be classed among those who are doing it +gracefully. + +She looked at her brother with those wise grey eyes, and did not speak +at once. + +"Oranje Straat and Park Straat," she said lightly, "cost money." + +"Oh, that is all right!" answered her brother, carelessly, as one who +in his time has handled great sums. + +"Then we are prosperous?" inquired Dorothy, mindful of other great + schemes which had not always done their duty by their originator. + +"Oh yes! We shall make a good thing out of this Malgamite. The labourer +is worthy of his hire, you know. There is no reason why we should not +take a better house than this. Mrs. Vansittart knows of one in Park +Straat which would suit us. Do you like her--Mrs. Vansittart, I mean?" + +His tone was slightly patronizing again. The Malgamite was a success, +it appeared, and assuredly success is the most difficult emergency that +a man has to face in life. + +"Very much," answered Dorothy, quietly. She looked hard at her brother; +for Dorothy had long ago gauged him, and had recently gauged Mrs. +Vansittart with a facility which is quite incomprehensible to men and +easy enough to women. She knew that her brother was not the sort of man +to arouse the faintest spark of love in the heart of such a woman as +her of whom they spoke. And yet Percy's tone implied as clearly as if +the words had been spoken that he had merely to offer to Mrs. +Vansittart his hand and heart in order to make her the happiest of +women. Either Dorothy or her brother was mistaken in Mrs. Vansittart. +Between a man and a woman it is usually the man who is mistaken in an +estimate of another woman. Dorothy was wondering, not whether Mrs. +Vansittart admired her brother, but why that lady was taking the +trouble to convey to him that such was the case. + + + + +CHAPTER XII + +SUBURBAN + +"Le bonheur c'est etre ne joyeux." + + +There are in the suburbs of London certain strata of men which lie in +circles of diminishing density around the great city, like _debris_ +around a volcano. London indeed erupts every evening between the hours +of five and six, and throws out showers of tired men, who lie where +they fall--or rather where their season ticket drops them--until +morning, when they arise and crowd back again to the seething crater. +The deposits of small clerks and tradespeople fall near at hand in a +dense shower, bounded on the north by Finchley, on the south by +Streatham. An outer circle of head clerks, Government servants, junior +partners, covers the land in a stratum reaching as far south as +Surbiton, as far north as the Alexandra Palace. And beyond these limits +are cast the brighter lights of commerce, law, and finance, who fall, a +thin golden shower, in the favoured neighbourhoods of the far suburbs, +where, from eventide till morning, they play at being country +gentlemen, talking stock and stable, with minds attuned to share and +produce. + +Mr. Joseph Wade, banker, was one of those who are thrown far afield by +the facilities of a fine suburban train service. He wore a frock-coat, +a very shiny hat, and he read the _Times_ in the train. He lived in a +staring red house, solid brick without and solid comfort within, in the +favoured pine country of Weybridge. He was one of those pillars of the +British Constitution who are laughed at behind their backs and +eminently respected to their faces. His gardeners trembled before him, +his coachman, as stout and respectable as himself, knew him to be a +just and a good master, who grudged no man his perquisites, and behaved +with a fine gentlemanly tact at those trying moments when the departing +visitor is desirous of tipping and the coachman knows that it is +blessed to receive. + +Mr. Wade rather scorned the amateur country-gentleman hobby which so +many of his travelling companions affected. It led them to don rough +tweed suits on Sunday, and walk about their paddocks and gardens as if +these formed a great estate. + +"I am a banker," he said, with that sound common sense which led him to +avoid those cheap affectations of superiority that belong to the outer +strata of the daily volcanic deposit--"I am a banker, and I am content +to be a banker in the evening and on Sundays, as well as during +bank-hours. What should I know about horses or Alderneys or Dorking +fowls? None of 'em yield a dividend." + +Mr. Wade, in fact, looked upon "The Brambles" as a place of rest, +arriving there at half-past six, in time to dress for a very good +dinner. After dinner he read in a small way by no means to be despised. +He had a taste for biography, and cherished in his stout heart a fine +old respect for Thackeray and Dickens and Walter Scott. Of the modern +fictionists he knew nothing. + +"Seems to me they are splitting straws, my dear," he once said to an +earnest young person who thought that literature meant contemporary +fiction, whereas we all know that the two are in no way connected. + +Joseph Wade was a widower, having some years before buried a wife as +stout and sensible as himself. He never spoke of her except to his +daughter Marguerite, now leaving school, and usually confined his +remarks to a consideration of what Marguerite's mother would have liked +in the circumstances under discussion at the moment. + +Marguerite had been educated at Cheltenham, and "finished" at Dresden, +without any limit as to extras. She had come home from Dresden a few +months before the Malgamite scheme was set on foot, to find herself +regarded by her father in the light of a rather delicate financial +crisis. The affection which had always existed between father and +daughter soon developed into something stronger--something volatile and +half mocking on her part, indulgent and half mystified on his. + +"She is rather a handful," wrote Mr. Wade to Tony Cornish, "and too +inconsequent to let my mind be easy about her future. I wish you would +run down and dine and sleep at 'The Brambles' some evening soon. Monday +is Marguerite's eighteenth birthday. Will you come on that evening?" + +"He is not thirty-three yet," reflected Mr. Wade, as he folded the +letter and slipped it into an envelope, "and she is the sort of girl +who must be able to give a man her full respect before she can give +him--er--anything else." + +From which it may be perceived that the astute banker was preparing to +face the delicate financial crisis. + +Cornish received the invitation the day after returning from Holland. +Mr. Wade had been his father's friend and trustee, and was, he +understood, distantly related to the mother whom Tony had never known. +Such invitations were not infrequent, and it was the recipient's custom +to set aside others in order to reply with an acceptance. A friendship +had sprung up between two men who were not only divided by a gulf of +years, but had hardly a thought in common. + +On arriving at Weybridge station, Cornish found Marguerite awaiting his +arrival in a very high dog-cart drawn by an exceedingly shiny cob, +which animal she proceeded to handle with vast spirit and a blithe +ignorance. She looked trim and fresh, with bright brown hair under a +smart sailor hat, and a complexion almost dazzling in its youthfulness +and brilliancy. She nodded gaily at Cornish. + +"Hop up," she said encouragingly, "and then hang on like grim death. +There are going to be--whoa, my pet!--er--ructions. All right, William. +Let go." + +William let go, and made a dash at the rear step. The shiny cob +squeaked, stood thoughtfully on his hind legs for a moment, and then +dashed across the bridge, shaving a cab rather closely, and failing to +observe a bank of stones at one side of the road. + +"Do you mind this sort of thing?" inquired Marguerite, as they bumped +heavily over the obstruction. + +"Not in the least. Most invigorating, I consider it." Marguerite +arranged the reins carefully, and inclined the whip at a suitable angle +across her companion's vision. + +"I'm learning to drive, you know," she said, leaning confidently down +from her high seat. "And papa thinks that because this young gentleman +is rather stout he is quiet, which is quite a mistake. Whoa! Steady! +Keep off the grass! Visitors are requested to keep to--Well, I'm"--she +hauled the pony off the common, whither he had betaken himself, on to +the road again--"blowed," she added, religiously completing her +unfinished sentence. + +They were now between high fences, and compelled to progress more +steadily. + +"I am very glad you have come, you know," Marguerite took the +opportunity of assuring the visitor. "It is jolly slow, I can tell you, +at times; and then you will do papa good. He is very difficult to +manage. It took me a week to get this pony out of him. His great idea +is for somebody to marry me. He looks upon me as a sort of fund that +has to be placed or sunk or something, somewhere. There was a young +Scotchman here the week before last. I have forgotten his name already. +John--something--Fairly. Yes, that is it--John Fairly, of +Auchen-something. It is better to be John Fairly, of Auchen-something, +than a belted earl, it appears." + +"Did John tell you so himself?" inquired Tony. + +"Yes; and he ought to know, oughtn't he? But that was what put me on +my guard. When a Scotchman begins to tell you who he is, take my advice +and sheer off." + +"I will," said Tony. + +"And when a Scotchman begins to tell you what he has, you may be sure +that he wants something more. I smelt a rat at once. And I would not +speak to him for the rest of the evening, or if I did, I spoke with a +Scotch accent--just a suspeecion of an accent, you know--nothing to get +hold of, but just enough to let him know that his Auchen-something +would not go down with me." + +She spoke with a sort of inconsequent earnestness, a relic of the +school-days she had so lately left behind. She did not seem to have had +time to decide yet whether life was a rattling farce or a matter of +deadly earnest. And who shall blame her, remembering that older heads +than hers are no clearer on that point? + +On approaching the red villa by its short entrance drive of yellow +gravel, they perceived Mr. Wade slowly walking in his garden. The +garden of "The Brambles" was exactly the sort of garden one would +expect to find attached to a house of that name. It was chiefly +conspicuous for its lack of brambles, or indeed of any vegetable of +such disorderly habit. Yellow gravel walks intersected smooth lawns. +April having drawn almost to its close, there were thin red lines of +tulips standing at attention all along the flowery borders. Not a stalk +was out of place. One suspected that the flowers had been drilled by a +martinet of a gardener. The sight of an honest weed would have been a +relief to the eye. The curse of too much gardener and too little nature +lay over the land. + +"Ah!" said Mr. Wade, holding out a large white hand. "You perceive me +inspecting the garden, and if you glance in the direction of +McPherson's cottage you will perceive McPherson watching me. I pay him +a hundred and twenty and he knows that it is too much." + +"By the way, papa," put in Marguerite, gravely, "will you tell +McPherson that he will receive a month's notice if he counts the +peaches this summer, as he did last year?" + +Mr. Wade laughed, and promised her a freer hand in this matter. They +walked in the trim garden until it was time to dress for dinner, and +Cornish saw enough to convince him that Mr. Wade was fully occupied +between banking hours in his capacity as Marguerite's father. + +That young lady came down as the bell rang, in a white dress as fresh +and girlish as herself, and during the meal, which was long and +somewhat solemn, entertained the guest with considerable liveliness. It +was only after she had left them to their wine, over which the banker +loved to linger in the old-fashioned way that Mr. Wade put on his grave +financial air. He fingered his glass thoughtfully, as if choosing, not +a subject of conversation, but a suitable way of approaching a +premeditated question. + +"You do not recollect your mother?" he said suddenly. + +"No; she died when I was two years old." + +Mr. Wade nodded, and slowly sipped his port. "Queer thing is," he said, +after a pause and looking towards the door, "that that child is +startlingly like what your mother used to be at the age of eighteen, +when I first knew her. Perhaps it is only my imagination--not that I +have much of that. Perhaps all girls are alike at that age--a sort of +freshness and an optimism that positively take one's breath away. At +any rate, she reminds me of your mother." He broke off, and looked at +Cornish with his slow and rather ponderous smile. His attitude towards +the world was indeed one of conscious ponderosity. He did not attempt +to understand the lighter side of life, but took it seriously as a +work-a-day matter. "I was once in love with your mother," he stated +squarely. "But circumstances were against us. You see, your father was +a lord's younger brother, and that made a great difference in Clapham +in those days. I felt it a good deal at the time, but I of course got +over it years and years ago. No sentiment about me, Tony. Sentiment and +seventeen stone won't balance, you know." The great man slowly drew the +decanter towards him. "She got a better husband in your father--a +clever, bright chap--and I was best man, I recollect. It was about that +time--about your age I was--that I took seriously to my work. Before, I +had been a little wild. And that interest has lasted me right up to the +present time. Take my word for it, Tony, the greatest interest in life +would be money-making--if one only knew what to do with the money +afterwards." The banker had been eating a biscuit, and he now swept the +crumbs together with his little finger from all sides in a lessening +circle until they formed a heap upon the white tablecloth. "It +accumulates," he said slowly, "accumulates, accumulates. And, after +all, one can only eat and drink the best that are to be obtained, and +the best costs so little--a mere drop in the ocean." He handed Tony +the decanter as he spoke. "Then I married Marguerite's mother, some +years afterwards, when I was a middle-aged man. She was the only +daughter of--the bank, you know." + +And that seemed to be all that there was to be said about Marguerite's +mother. + +Tony Cornish nodded in his quick, sympathetic way. Mr. Wade had told +him none of this before, but it was to be presumed that he had heard at +least part of it from other sources. His manner now indicated that he +was interested, but he did not ask his companion to say one word more +than he felt disposed to utter. It is probable that he knew these to be +no idle after-dinner words, spoken without premeditation, out of a full +heart; for Mr. Wade was not, as he had boasted, a person of sentiment, +but a plain, straightforward business man, who, if he had no meaning to +convey, said nothing. And in this respect it is a pity that more are +not like him. + +"We have always been pretty good friends, you and I," continued the +banker, "though I know I am not exactly your sort. I am distinctly +City; you are as distinctly West End. But during your minority, and +when we settled up accounts on your coming of age, and since then, we +have always hit it off pretty well." + +"Yes," said Cornish, moving his feet impatiently under the table. + +There was no mistaking the aim of all this, and Mr. Wade was too +British in his habits to beat about the bush much longer. + +"I do not mind telling you that I have got you down in my will," said +the banker. + +Cornish bit his lip and frowned at his wine-glass. And it is possible +that the man of no sentiment understood his silence. + +"I have frequently disbelieved what I have heard of you," went on the +elder man. "You have, doubtless, enemies--as all men have--and you have +been a trifle reckless, perhaps, of what the world might say. If you +will allow me to say so, I think none the worse of you for that." + +Mr. Wade pushed the decanter across the table, and when Cornish had +filled his glass, drew it back towards himself. It is wonderful what +resource there is in half a glass of wine, if merely to examine it when +it is hard to look elsewhere. + +"You remember, six months ago, I spoke to you of a personal matter," +said the banker. "I asked you if you had thoughts of marrying, and +suggested something in the nature of a partnership if that would +facilitate your plans in any way." + +"That is not the sort of offer one is likely to forget," answered +Cornish. + +"I asked you if--well, if it was Joan Ferriby." + + +"Yes. And I answered that it was not Joan Ferriby. That was mere +gossip, of which we are both aware, and for which neither of us cares +a pin." + +"Then it comes to this," said Mr. Wade, drawing lines on the tablecloth +with his dessert knife as if it were a balance-sheet, and he was +casting the final totals there. "You are a man of the world; you are +clever; you are like your father before you, in that you have something +that women care about. Heaven only knows what it is, for I don't!" He +paused, and looked at his companion as if seeking that intangible +something. Then he jerked his head towards the drawing-room, where +Marguerite could be dimly heard playing an air from the latest comic +opera with a fine contempt for accidentals. "That child," he said, +"knows no more about life than a sparrow. A man like myself--seventeen +stone--may have to balance his books at any moment. You have a clear +field; for you may take my word for it that you will be the first in +it. My own experience of life has been mostly financial, but I am +pretty certain that the first man a woman cares for is the man she +cares for all along, though she may never see him again. I don't hold +it out as an inducement, but there is no reason why you should not know +that she will have a hundred and fifty thousand pounds--not when I am +dead, but on the day she marries." Mr. Wade paused, and took a sip of +his most excellent port. "Do not hurry," he said. "Take your time. +Think about it carefully--unless you have already thought about it, and +can say yes or no now." + +"I can do that." + +Mr. Wade bent forward heavily, with one arm on the table. + +"Ah!" he said. "Which is it?" + +"It is no," answered Cornish, simply. The banker passed his +table-napkin across his lips, paused for a moment, and then rose with, +as was his hospitable custom, his hand upon the sherry decanter. "Then +let us go into the drawing-room," he said. + + + + +CHAPTER XIII. + +THE MAKING OF A MAN. + +"Heureux celui qui n'est forcee de sacrifier personne a son devoir." + + +"You know," said Marguerite the next morning, as she and Cornish rode +quietly along the sandy roads, beneath the shade of the pines--"you +know, papa is such a jolly, simple old dear--he doesn't understand +women in the least." + +"And do you call yourself a woman nowadays?" inquired Cornish. + +"You bet. Bet those grey hairs of yours if you like. +I see them! All down one side." + +"They are all down both sides and on the top as well--my good--woman. +How does your father fail to understand you?" + +"Well, to begin with, he thinks it necessary to have Miss Williams, to +housekeep and chaperon, and to do oddments generally--as if I couldn't +run the show myself. You haven't seen Miss Williams--oh, crikey! +She has gone to Cheltenham for a holiday, for which you may thank your +eternal stars. She is just the sort of person who _would_ go to +Cheltenham. Then papa is desperately keen about my marrying. He keeps +trotting likely _partis_ down here to dine and sleep--that's why you +are here, I haven't a shadow of a doubt. None of the _partis_ have +passed muster yet. Poor old thing, he thinks I do not see through his +little schemes." + +Cornish laughed, and glanced at Marguerite under the shade of his straw +hat, wondering, as men have probably wondered since the ages began, how +it is that women seem to begin life with as great a knowledge of the +world as we manage to acquire towards the end of our experience. +Marguerite made her statements with a certain careless _aplomb_, and +these were usually within measurable distance of the fact, whereas a +youth her age and ten years older, if he be of a didactic turn, will +hold forth upon life and human nature with an ignorance of both which +is positively appalling. + +"Now, I don't want to marry," said Marguerite, suddenly returning to +her younger and more earnest manner. "What is the good of marrying?" + +"What, indeed," echoed Cornish. + +"Well, then, if papa tackles you--about me, I mean--when he has done +the _Times_--he won't say anything before, the _Times_ being the first +object in papa's existence, and yours very truly the second--just you +choke him off--won't you?" + +"I will." + +"Promise?" + +"Promise faithfully." + +"That's all right. Now tell me--is my hat on one side?" + + +Cornish assured her that her hat was straight, and then they talked of +other things, until they came to a ditch suitable for some jumping +lessons, which he had promised to give her. + +She was bewilderingly changeable, at one moment childlike, and in the +next very wise--now a heedless girl, and a moment later a keen woman of +the world--appearing to know more of that abode of evil than she well +could. Her colour came and went--her very eyes seemed to change. +Cornish thought of this open field which Marguerite's father had +offered, and perhaps he thought of the hundred and fifty thousand +pounds that lay beneath so bright a surface. + +On returning to "The Brambles," they found Mr. Wade reading the _Times_ +in the glass-covered veranda of that eligible suburban mansion. It +being a Saturday, the great banker was taking a holiday, and Cornish +had arranged not to return to town until midday. + +"Come here," shouted Mr. Wade, "and have a cigar while you read the +paper." + +"And remember," added Marguerite, slim and girlish in her riding-habit; +"choke him off!" + +She stood on the door-step, looking over her shoulder, and nodded at +Cornish, her fresh lips tilted at the corner by a smile full of gaiety +and mysticism. + +"Read that," said Mr. Wade, gravely. + +But Mr. Wade was always grave--was clad in gravity and a frock-coat all +his waking moments--and Cornish took up the newspaper carelessly. He +stretched out his legs and lighted a cigar. Then he leisurely turned to +the column indicated by his companion. It was headed, "Crisis in the +Paper Trade: the Malgamite Corner." + +And Tony Cornish did not raise his eyes from the printed sheet for a +full ten minutes. When at length he looked up, he found Mr. Wade +watching him, placid and patient. + +"Can't make head or tail of it," he said, with a laugh. + +"I will make both head and tail of it for you," said Mr. Wade, who in +his own world had a certain reputation for plain speaking. + +It was even said that this stout banker could tell a man to his face +that he was a scoundrel with a cooler nerve than any in Lombard Street. + +"What has occurred," he said, slowly folding the advertisement sheet of +the _Times_, "is only what has been foreseen for a long time. The world +has been degenerating into a maudlin state of sentiment for some years. +The East End began it; a thousand sentimental charities have fostered +the movement. Now, I am a plain man--a City man, Tony, to the tips of +my toes." And he stuck out a large square-toed foot and looked +contemplatively at it. "Half of your precious charities--the societies +that you and Joan Ferriby, and, if you will allow me to say so, that +ass Ferriby, are mixed up in--are not fraudulent, but they are pretty +near it. Some people who have no right to it are putting other people's +money into their pockets. It is the money of fools--a fool and his +money are soon parted, you know--but that does not make matters any +better. The fools do not always part with their money for the right +reason; but that also is of small importance. It is not our business if +some of them do it because they like to see their names printed under +the names of the royal and the great--if others do it for the mere +satisfaction of being life--governors of this and that institution--if +others, again, head the county lists because they represent a part of +that county in Parliament--if the large majority give of their surplus +to charities because they are dimly aware that they are no better than +they should be, and wish to take shares in a concern that will pay a +dividend in the hereafter. They know that they cannot take their money +out of this world with them, so they think they had better invest some +of it in what they vaguely understand to be a great limited company, +with the bishops on the board and--I say it with all reverence--the +Almighty in the chair. I would not say this to the first-comer because +it would not be well received, and it is not fashionable to treat +Charity from a common-sense point of view. It is fashionable to send a +cheque to this and that charity--feeling that it is charity, and +therefore will be all right, and that the cheque will be duly placed on +the credit side of the drawer's account in the heavenly books, however +it may be foolishly spent or fraudulently appropriated by the payee on +earth. Half a dozen of the fashionable charities are rotten, but we +have not had a thorough-going swindle up to this time. We have been +waiting for it ... in Lombard Street. It is there...." + +He paused, and tapped the printed column of the _Times_ with a fat and +inexorable forefinger. He was, it must be remembered, a mere banker--a +person in the City, where honesty is esteemed above the finer qualities +of charity and beneficence, where soul and sentiment are so little +known that he who of his charity giveth away another's money is held +accountable for his manner of spending it. + +"It is there, ... and you have the honour of being mixed up in it," +said Mr. Wade. + +Cornish took up the paper, and looked at the printed words with a vague +surprise. + +"There is no knowing," went on the banker, "how the world will take it. +It is one of our greatest financial difficulties that there is never +any knowing how the world will take anything. Of course, we in the City +are plain-going men, who have no handles to our names and no time for +the fashionable fads. We are only respectable, and we cannot afford to +be mixed up in such a scheme as your malgamite business." Mr. Wade +glanced at Cornish and paused a moment. He was a stolid Englishman, who +had received punishment in his time, and could hit hard when he deemed +that hard hitting was merciful. "It has only been a question of time. +The credulity of the public is such that, sooner or later, a bogus +charity must assuredly have followed in the wake of the thousand bogus +companies that exist to-day. I only wonder that it has not come sooner. +You and Ferriby and, of course, the women have been swindled, my dear +Tony--that is the head and the tail of it." + +Cornish laughed gaily. "I dare say we have," he admitted. "But I will +be hanged if I see what it all means, now." + +"It may mean ruin to those who have anything to lose," explained Mr. +Wade, calmly. "The whole thing has been cleverly planned--one of the +cleverest things of recent years, and the man who thought it out had +the makings of a great financier in him. What he wanted to do was to +get the malgamite industry into his own hands. If he had formed a +company and gone about it in a straightforward manner, the paper-makers +of the whole world would have risen like one man and smashed him. +Instead of that, he moved with the times, and ran the thing as a +charity--a fashionable amusement, in fact. The malgamite industry is +neither better nor worse than the other dangerous trades, and no man +need go into it unless he likes. But the man who started this +thing--whoever he may be--supplied that picturesqueness without which +the public cannot be moved--and lo! We have an army of martyrs." + +Mr. Wade paused and jerked the ash from his cigar. He glanced at +Cornish. + +"No one suspected that there was anything wrong. It was plausibly put +forth, and Ferriby ... did his best for it. Then the money began to +come in, and once money begins to come in for a popular charity the +difficulty is to stop it. I suppose it is still coming in?" + +"Yes," said Cornish. "It is still coming in, and nobody is trying to +stop it." + +Mr. Wade laughed in his throat, as fat men do. "And," he cried, sitting +upright and banging his heavy fist down on the arm of his chair--"and +there are millions in your malgamite works at the Hague--millions. If +it were only honest it would be the finest monopoly the world has ever +seen--for two years, but no longer. At the end of that period the +paper-makers will have had time to combine and make their own +stuff--then they'll smash you. But during those two years all the +makers in the world will have to buy your malgamite at the price you +chose to put upon it. They have their forward contracts to +fulfil--government contracts, Indian contracts, newspaper contracts. +Thousands and thousands of tons of paper will have to be manufactured +at a loss every week during the next two years, or they'll have to shut +up their mills. Now do you see where you are?" + +"Yes," answered Cornish, "I see where I am, now." + +His face was drawn and his eyes hard, like those of a man facing ruin. +And that which was written on his face was an old story, so old that +some may not think it worth the telling; for he had found out (as all +who are fortunate will, sooner or later, discover) that success or +failure, riches or poverty, greatness or obscurity, are but small +things in a man's life. Mr. Wade looked at his companion with a sort of +wonder in his shrewd old face. He had seen ruined men before now--he +had seen criminals convicted of their wrong-doing--he had seen old and +young in adversity, and, what is more dangerous still, in +prosperity--but he had never seen a young face grow old in the +twinkling of an eye. The banker was only thinking of this matter as a +financial crisis, in which his great skill made him take a master's +delight. There must inevitably come a great crash, and Mr. Wade's +interest was aroused. Cornish was realizing that the crash would of a +certainty fall between himself and Dorothy. + +"This thing," continued the banker, judicially, "has not evolved +itself. It is not the result of a singular chain of circumstances. It +is the deliberate and careful work of one man's brain. This sort of +speculative gambling comes to us from America. It was in America that +the first cotton corner was conceived. That is what the paper means +when it plainly calls it the malgamite corner. Now, what I want to know +is this--who has worked this thing?" + +"Percy Roden," answered Cornish, thoughtfully. "It is Roden's corner." + +"Then Roden's a clever fellow," said the great financier. "The sort of +man who will die a millionaire or a felon--there is no medium for that +sort. He has conducted the thing with consummate skill--has not made a +mistake yet. For I have watched him. He began well, by saying just +enough and not too much. He went abroad, but not too far abroad. He +avoided a suspicious remoteness. Then he bided his time with a fine +patience, and at the right moment converted it quietly into a +company--with a capital subscribed by the charitable--a splendid piece +of audacity. I saw the announcement in the newspaper, neatly worded, +and issued at the precise moment when the public interest was beginning +to wane, and before the thing was forgotten. People read it, and having +found a new plaything--bicycles, I suppose--did not care two pins what +became of the malgamite scheme, and yet they were not left in a +position to be able to say that they had never heard that the thing had +been turned into a company." The banker rubbed his large soft hands +together with a grim appreciation of this misapplied skill, which so +few could recognize at its full value. + +"But," he continued, in his deliberate, practical way, as if in the +course of his experience he had never yet met a difficulty which could +not be overcome, "it is more our concern to think about the future. The +difficulty you are in would be bad enough in itself--it is made a +hundred times worse by the fact that you have a man like Roden, with +all the trumps in his hand, waiting for you to throw the first card. Of +course, I know no details yet, but I soon shall. What seems complicated +to you may appear simple enough to me. I am going to stand by +you--understand that, Tony. Through thick and thin. But I am going to +stand behind you. I can hit harder from there. And this is just one of +those affairs with which my name must not be associated. +So far as I can judge at present, there seems to be only one course +open to you, and that is to abandon the whole affair as quietly and +expeditiously as possible, to drop malgamite and the hope of benefiting +the malgamite workers once and for all." + +Tony was looking at his watch. It was, it appeared, time for him to go +if he wanted to catch his train. + +"No," he said, rising; "I will be d----d if I do that." + +Mr. Wade looked at him curiously, as one may look at a sleeper who for +no apparent reason suddenly wakes and stretches himself. + +"Ah!" he said slowly, and that was all. + + + + +CHAPTER XIV. + +UNSOUND. + +"Be wiser than other people if you can; but do not tell them so." + + +If Major White was not a man of quick comprehension, he was, at all +events, honest in his density. He never said that he understood when he +did not do so. When he received a telegram in barracks at Dover to come +up to London the next day and meet Cornish at his club at one o'clock, +the major merely said that he was in a state of condemnation, and +fixing his glass very carefully into his more surprised eye, studied +the thin pink paper as if it were a unique and interesting proof of the +advance of the human race. In truth, Major White never sent telegrams, +and rarely received them. He blew out his cheeks and said a second time +that he was damned. Then he threw the telegram into a waste-paper +basket, which was rarely put to so legitimate a use; for the major +never wrote letters if he could help it, and received so few that they +hardly kept him supplied in pipe-lights. + +He apparently had no intention of replying to Cornish's telegram, +arguing very philosophically in his mind that he would go if he could, +and if he could not, it would not matter very much. A method of +contemplating life, as a picture with a perspective to it, which may be +highly recommended to fussy people who herald their paltry little +comings and goings by a number of unnecessary communications. + +Without, therefore, attempting a surmise as to the meaning of this +summons, White took a morning train to London, and solemnly reported +himself to the hall porter of a club in St. James's Street as the +well-dressed throng was leisurely returning from church. + +"Mr. Cornish told me to come and have lunch with him," he said, in his +usual bald style, leaving explanations and superfluous questions to +such as had time for luxuries of that description. + +He was taken charge of by a button-boy, whose head reached the major's +lowest waistcoat button, was deprived of his hat and stick, and +practically commanded to wash his hands, to all of which he submitted +under stolid and silent protest. + +Then he was led upstairs, refusing absolutely to hurry, although urged +most strongly thereto by the boy's example and manner of pausing a few +steps higher up and looking back. + +"Yes," said the major, when he had heard Cornish's story across the +table, and during the consumption of a perfectly astonishing +luncheon--"yes; half the trouble in this world comes from the +incapacity of the ordinary human being to mind his own business." He +operated on a creaming Camembert cheese with much thoughtfulness, and +then spoke again. "I should like you to tell me," he said, "what a +couple of idiots like us have to do with these confounded malgamiters. +We do not know anything about industry or workmen--or work, so far as +that goes"--he paused and looked severely across the table--"especially +you," he added. + +Which was strictly true; for Tony Cornish was and always had been a +graceful idler. He was one of those unfortunate men who possess +influential relatives, than which there are few heavier handicaps in +that game of life, where if there be any real scoring to be done, it +must be compassed off one's own bat. To follow out the same inexpensive +simile, influential relatives may get a man into a crack club, but they +cannot elect him to the first eleven. So Tony Cornish, who had never +done anything, but had waited vaguely for something to turn up that +might be worth his while to seize, had no answer ready, and only +laughed gaily in his friend's face. + +"The first thing we must do," he said, very wisely leaving the past to +take care of itself, "is to get old Ferriby out of it." + +"'Cos he is a lord?" + +"Partly." + +"'Cos he is an ass?" suggested White, as a plausible alternative. + +"Partly; but chiefly because he is not the sort of man we want if there +is going to be a fight." + +A momentary light gleamed in the major's eye, but it immediately gave +place to a placid interest in the Camembert. + +"If there is going to be a fight," he said, "I'm on." + +In which trivial remark the major explained his whole life and mental +attitude. And if the world only listened, instead of thinking what +effect it is creating and what it is going to say next, it would catch +men thus giving themselves away in their daily talk from morning till +night. For Major White had always been "on" when there was fighting. By +dint of exchanging and volunteering and asking, and generally bothering +people in a thick-skinned, dull way, he always managed to get to the +front, where his competitors--the handful of modern knights-errant who +mean to make a career in the army, and inevitably succeed--were not +afraid of him, and laughingly liked him. And the barrack-room +balladists had discovered that White rhymes with Fight. And lo! Another +man had made a name for himself in a world that is already too full of +names, so that in the paths of Fame the great must necessarily fall +against each other. + +After luncheon, in the smaller smoking-room, where they were alone, +Cornish explained the situation at greater length to Major White, who +did not even pretend to understand it. + +"All I can make of it is that that loose-shouldered chap Roden is a +scoundrel," he said bluntly, from behind a great cigar, "and wants +thumping. Now, if there's anything in that line--" + +"No; but you must not tell him so," interrupted Cornish. "I wish to +goodness I could make you understand that cunning can only be met by +cunning, not by thumps, in these degenerate days. Old Wade has taken us +by the hand, as I tell you. They come to town, by the way, to-morrow, +and will be in Eaton Square for the rest of the season. He says that it +is his business to meet the low cunning of the small solicitors and the +noble army of company promoters, and it seems that he knows exactly +what to do. At any rate, it is not expedient to thump Roden." + +Major White shrugged his shoulders with much silent wisdom. He +believed, it appeared, in thumps in face of any evidence in favour of +milder methods. + +"Deuced sorry for that girl," he said. + +Cornish was lighting a cigarette. "What girl?" he asked quietly. + +"Miss Roden, chap's sister. She knows her brother is a dark horse, but +she wouldn't admit it, not if you were to kill her for it. Women"--the +major paused in his great wisdom--"women are a rum lot." + +Which, assuredly, no one is prepared to deny. + +Cornish glanced at his companion through the cigarette smoke, and said +nothing. + +"However," continued the major, "I am at your service. Let us have the +orders." + +"To-morrow," answered Cornish, "is Monday, and therefore the Ferribys +will be at home. You and I are to go to Cambridge Terrace about four +o'clock to see my uncle. We will scare him out of the Malgamite +business. Then we will go upstairs and settle matters with Joan. Wade +and Marguerite will drop in about half-past four. Joan and Marguerite +see a good deal of each other, you know. If we have any difficulty with +my uncle, Wade will give him the _coup de grace_, you understand. His +word will have more weight than ours We shall then settle on a plan of +campaign, and clear out of my aunt's drawing-room before the crowd +comes." + +"And you will do the talking," stipulated Major White. + +"Oh yes; I will do the talking. And now I must be off. I have a lot of +calls to pay, and it is getting late. You will find me here to-morrow +afternoon at a quarter to four." + +Whereupon Major White took his departure, to appear again the next day +in good time, placid and debonair--as he had appeared when called upon +in various parts of the world, where things were stirring. + +They took a hansom, for the afternoon was showery, and drove through +the crowded streets. Even Cambridge Terrace, usually a quiet +thoroughfare, was astir with traffic, for it was the height of the +season and a levee day. As the cab swung round into Cambridge Terrace, +White suddenly pushed his stick up through the trap-door in the roof of +the vehicle. + +"Ninety-nine," he shouted to the driver in his great voice. "Not nine." + +Then he threw himself back against the dingy blue cushions. + +Cornish turned and looked at him in surprise. "Gone off your head?" he +inquired. "It is nine--you know that well enough." + +"Yes," answered White, "I know that, my good soul; but you could not +see the door as I could when we came round the corner. Roden and Von +Holzen are on the steps, coming out." + +"Roden and Von Holzen in England?" + + +"Not only in England," said White, placidly, "but in Cambridge Terrace. +And "--he paused, seeking a suitable remark among his small selection +of conversational remnants--"and the fat is in the fire." + +The cab had now stopped at the door of number ninety-nine. And if Roden +or Von Holzen, walking leisurely down Cambridge Terrace, had turned +during the next few moments, they would have seen a stationary hansom +cab, with a large round face--mildly surprised, like a pink harvest +moon--rising cautiously over the roof of it, watching them. + +When the coast was clear, Cornish and White walked back to number nine. +Lord Ferriby was at home, and they were ushered into his study, an +apartment which, like many other things appertaining to his lordship, +was calculated to convey an erroneous impression. There were books upon +the tables--the lives of great and good men. Pamphlets relating to +charitable matters, missionary matters, and a thousand schemes for the +amelioration of the human lot here and hereafter, lay about in +profusion. This was obviously the den of a great philanthropist. + +His lordship presently appeared, carrying a number of voting papers, +which he threw carelessly on the table. He was, it seemed, a subscriber +to many institutions for the blind, the maimed, and the halt. + +"Ah!" he said, "I generally get through my work in the morning, but I +find myself behindhand to-day. It is wonderful," he added, directing +his conversation and his benevolent gaze towards White, "how busy an +idle man may be." + + + +"M--m--yes!" answered the major, with his stolid stare. + +Cornish broke what threatened to be an awkward silence by referring at +once to the subject in hand. + +"It seems," he began, "that this Malgamite scheme is not what we took +it to be." + +Lord Ferriby looked surprised and slightly scandalized. Could it be +possible for a fashionable charity to be anything but what it appeared +to be? In his eyes, wandering from one face to the other, there lurked +the question as to whether they had seen Roden and Von Holzen quit his +door a minute earlier. But no reference was made to those two +gentlemen, and Lord Ferriby, who, as a chairman of many boards, was a +master of the art of conciliation and the decent closing of both eyes +to unsightly facts, received Cornish's suggestion with a polite and +avuncular pooh-pooh. + +"We must not," he said soothingly, "allow our judgment to be hastily +affected by the ill-considered statements of the--er--newspapers. Such +statements, my dear Anthony--and you, Major White--are, I may tell you, +only what we, as the pioneers of a great movement, must be prepared to +expect. I saw the article in the _Times_ to which you refer--indeed, I +read it most carefully, as, in my capacity of chairman of +this--eh--char--that is to say, company, I was called upon to do. And I +formed the opinion that the mind of the writer was--eh--warped." Lord +Ferriby smiled sadly, and gave a final wave of the hand, as if to +indicate that the whole matter lay in a nutshell, and that nutshell +under his lordship's heel. "Warped or not," answered Cornish, "the man +says that we have formed ourselves into a company, which company is +bound to make huge profits, and those profits are naturally assumed to +find their way into our pockets." + +"My dear Anthony," replied the chairman, with a laugh which was almost +a cackle, "the labourer is worthy of his hire." + +Which seems likely to become the _dernier cri_ of the overpaid +throughout all the ages. + +"Even if we contradict the statement," pursued Cornish, with a sudden +coldness in his manner, "the contradiction will probably fail to reach +many of the readers of this article, and as matters at present stand, +I do not see that we are in a position to contradict." + +"My dear Anthony," answered Lord Ferriby, turning over his papers with +a preoccupied air, as if the question under discussion only called for +a small share of his attention--"my dear Anthony, the money was +subscribed for the amelioration of the lot of the malgamite workers. We +have not only ameliorated their lot, but we have elevated them morally +and physically. We have far exceeded our promises, and the subscribers, + who, after all, take a small interest in the matter, have every reason +to be satisfied that their money has been applied to the purpose for +which they intended it. They were kind enough to intrust us with the +financial arrangements. The concern is a private one, and it is the +business of no one--not even of the _Times_--to inquire into the method +which we think well to adopt for the administration of the Malgamite +Fund. If the subscribers had no confidence in us, they surely would not +have given the management unreservedly into our hands." Lord Ferriby +spread out the limbs in question with an easy laugh. Has not a greater +than any of us said that a man "may smile, and smile, and be a +villain"? A silence followed, which was almost, but not quite, broken +by the major, who took his glass from his eye, examined it very +carefully, as if wondering how it had been made, and, replacing it with +a deep sigh, sat staring at the opposite wall. + +"Then you are not disposed to withdraw your name from the concern?" +asked Cornish. + +"Most certainly not, my dear Anthony. What have the malgamiters done +that I should, so to speak, abandon them at the first difficulty which +has presented itself?" + +"And what about the profits?" inquired Cornish, bluntly. + +"Mr. Roden is our paid secretary. He understands the financial +situation, which is rather a complicated one. We may, I think, leave +such details to him. And if I may suggest it (I may perhaps rightly lay +claim to a somewhat larger experience in charitable finances than +either of you), I should recommend a strict reticence on this matter. +We are not called upon to answer idle questions, I think. And +if--well--if the labourer is found worthy of his hire ... buy yourself +a new hat, my dear Anthony. Buy yourself a new hat." + +Cornish rose, and looked at his watch. "I wonder if Joan will give us a +cup of tea," he said. "We might, at all events, go up and try." + +"Certainly--certainly. And I will follow when I have finished my work. +And do not give the matter another thought--either of you--eh!" + +"He's been got at," said Major White to his companion as they walked +upstairs together, as if Lord Ferriby were a jockey or some common +person of that sort. + + + + +CHAPTER XV + +PLAIN SPEAKING. + +"Il est rare que la tete des rois soit faite a la mesure de leur +couronne." + + +"What I want is something to eat," Miss Marguerite Wade confided in an +undertone to Tony Cornish, a few minutes later in Lady Ferriby's +drawing-room. She said this with a little glance of amusement, as +Cornish stood before her with two plates of biscuits, which certainly +did not promise much sustenance. + +"Then," answered Cornish, "you have come to the wrong house." + +Marguerite kept him waiting while she arranged biscuits in her saucer. +He set the plates aside, and returned to her in answer to her tacit +order, conveyed by laying one hand on a vacant chair by her side. +Marguerite was in the midst of that brief period of a woman's life +wherein she dares to state quite clearly what she wants. + +"Why don't you marry Joan?" she asked, eating a biscuit with a fine +young optimism, which almost implied that things sometimes taste as +nice as they look. + +"Why don't you marry Major White?" retorted Tony; and Marguerite turned +and looked at him gravely. + +"For a man," she said, "that wasn't so dusty. So few men have any eyes +in their head, you know." And she thoughtfully finished the biscuits. +"I think I'll go back to the bread-and-butter," she said. "It's the +last time Lady Ferriby will ask me to stay to tea, so I may as well be +hanged for--three pence as three farthings. And I think I will be more +careful with you in the future. For a man, you are rather sharp." And +she looked at him doubtfully. + +"When you attain my age," replied Tony, "you will have arrived at the +conclusion that the whole world is sharper than one took it to be. It +does not do to think that the world is blind. It is better not to care +whether it sees or not." + +"Women cannot afford to do that," returned Marguerite, with the +accumulated wisdom of nearly a score of years. "Oh, hang!" she added, a +moment later, under her breath, as she perceived Joan and Major White +coming towards them. + +"I have a letter for you," said Joan, "enclosed in one I received this +morning from Mrs. Vansittart at The Hague. She is not coming to the +Harberdashers' Assistants' Ball, and this is, I suppose, in answer to +the card you sent her. She explains that she did not know your +address." And Joan looked at him with a doubting glance for a moment. + +Cornish took the letter, but did not ask permission to open it. He held +it in his hand, and asked Joan a question. "Did you see Saturday's +Times?" + +"Yes, of course I did," she answered earnestly; "and of course, if it +is true you will all wash your hands of the whole affair, I suppose. I +was talking to Mr. Wade about it. He, however, placed both sides of the +question before me in about ten words, and left me to take my +choice--which I am incompetent to do." + +"Papa doesn't understand women," put in Marguerite. + +"Understands money, though," retorted Major White, looking at her in +somewhat severe astonishment, as if he had hitherto been unaware that +she could speak. + +Marguerite took the rebuff with demurely closed lips, a probable +indication that the only retort she could think of was hardly fit for +enunciation. + +Then Cornish drifted out of the conversation, and presently moved away +to the window, where he took the opportunity of opening Mrs. +Vansittart's letter. Mr. Wade, near at hand, was explaining +good-naturedly to Lady Ferriby that, with the best will in the world, +five per cent, and perfect safety are not to be obtained nowadays. + +"MON AMI" (wrote Mrs. Vansittart in French), "I take a daily promenade +after coffee in the Oude Weg. I sit on the bench where you sat, and +more often than not I see the sight that you saw. I am not a +sentimental woman, but, after all, one has a heart, and this is a +pitiful affair. Also, I have obtained from a reliable source the +information that the new system of manufacture is more deadly than the +old, which I have long suspected, and which, I believe, has passed +through your mind as well. You and I went into this thing without _le +bon motif_; but Providence is dealing out fresh hands, and you, at all +events, hold cards that call for careful and bold playing. My friend, +throw your Haberdashers over the wall and act without delay." + + +"E. V." + +She enclosed a formal refusal of the invitation to the Haberdashers' +Assistants' Ball. + +Major White was not a talkative man, and towards Joan in particular his +attitude was one of silent wonder. In preference to talking to her, he +preferred to stand a little way off and look at her. And if, at these +moments, the keen observer could detect any glimmer of expression on +his face, that glimmer seemed to express abject abasement before a +creation that could produce anything so puzzling, so interesting, so +absolutely beautiful--as Joan. + +Cornish, seeing White engaged in his favourite pastime, took him by the +arm and led him to the window. + +"Read that," he said, "and then burn it." + +"Of course," Joan was saying to Marguerite, as he joined them, "there +are, as your father says, two sides to the question. If papa and Tony +and Major White withdraw their names and abandon the poor malgamiters +now, there will be no help for the miserable wretches. They will all +drift back to the cheaper and more poisonous way of making malgamite. +And such a thing would be a blot upon our civilization--wouldn't it, +Tony?" + +Marguerite nodded an airy acquiescence. She was watching Major +White--that great strategist--tear up Mrs. Vansittart's letter and +throw it into the fire, with a deliberate non-concealment which was +perhaps superior to any subterfuge. The major joined the group. + + +"That is the view that I take of it," answered Tony. + +"And what do you say?" asked Joan, turning upon the major. + +"I? Oh, nothing!" replied that soldier, with perfect truthfulness. + +"Then what are you going to do?" asked Joan, who was practical, and, +like many practical people, rather given to hasty action. + +"We are going to stick to the malgamiters," replied Tony, quietly. + +"Through thick and thin?" inquired Marguerite, buttoning her glove. + +"Yes--through thick and thin." + +Both girls looked at Major White, who stolidly returned their gaze, and +appeared as usual to have no remark to offer. He was saved, indeed, +from all effort in that direction by the advent of Lord Ferriby, who +entered the room with more than his usual importance. He carried an +open letter in his hand, and seemed by his manner to demand the instant +attention of the whole party. There are some men and a few women who +live for the multitude, and are not content with the attention of one +or two persons only. And surely these have their reward, for the +attention of the multitude, however pleasant it may be while it lasts, +is singularly short-lived, and there is nothing more pitiful to watch +than the effort to catch it when it has wandered. + +"Eh--er," began his lordship, and everybody paused to listen. "I have +here a letter from our clerk at the Malgamite office in Great +George Street. It appears that there are a number of persons +there--paper-makers, I understand--who insist upon seeing us, and +refuse to leave the premises until they have done so." + +Lord Ferriby's manner indicated quite clearly his pity for these +persons who had proved themselves capable of such a shocking breach of +good manners. + +"One hardly knows what to do," he said, not meaning, of course, that +his words should be taken _au pied de la lettre_. His hearers, he +obviously felt assured, knew him better than to imagine that he was +really at a loss. "It is difficult to deal with--er--persons of this +description. What do you propose that we should do?" he inquired, +turning, as if by instinct, to Cornish. + +"Go and see them," was the reply. + +"But, my dear Anthony, such a crisis should be dealt with by Mr. Roden, +whom one may regard as our--er--financial adviser." + +"But as Roden is not here, we must do without his assistance. Perhaps +Mr. Wade would consent to act as our financial adviser on this +occasion," suggested Cornish. + +"I'll go with you," replied the banker, "and hear what they have to +say, if you like. But of course I can take no part in anything in the +nature of a controversy, and my name must not be mentioned." + +"Incognito," suggested Lord Ferriby, with a forced laugh. + +"Yes--incognito," returned the banker, gravely. + +The major attracted general attention to himself by murmuring something +inaudible, which he was urged to repeat. + +"Doocid decent of Mr. Wade," he said, a second time. + +And that seemed to settle the matter, for they all moved towards the +door. + +"Leave the carriage for me," cried Marguerite over the banisters, as +her father descended the stairs. "Seems to me," she added to Joan in an +undertone, "that the Malgamite scheme is up a gum-tree." + +At the little office of the Malgamite Fund the directors of that +charity found four gentlemen seated upon the chairs usually grouped +round the table where the ball committee or the bazaar sub-committees +held their sittings. One, who appeared to be what Lord Ferriby +afterwards described, more in sorrow than in anger, as the ringleader, +was a red-haired, brown-bearded Scotchman, with square shoulders and +his head set thereon in a manner indicative of advanced radical +opinions. The second in authority was a mild-mannered man with a pale +face and a drooping sparse moustache. He had a gentle eye, and lips for +ever parting in a mildly argumentative manner. The other two +paper-makers appeared to be foreigners. "Ah'm thinking----" began the +mild man in a long drawl; but he was promptly overpowered by his +fellow-countryman, who nodded curtly to Mr. Wade, and said--"Lord +Ferriby?" + +"No," answered the banker, calmly. + +"That is my name," said the chairman of the Malgamite Fund, with his +finger in his watch-chain. + +The russet gentleman looked at him with a fierce blue eye. + +"Then, sir," he said, "we'll come to business. For it's on business +that we've come. My friend Mr. MacHewlett, is, like myself, in charge +of one of the biggest mills in the country; here's Mossier Delmont of +the great mill at Clermont-Ferrand, and Mr. Meyer from Germany. My own +name's a plain one--like myself--but an honest one; it's John Thompson." + +Lord Ferriby bowed, and Major White looked at John Thompson with a +placid interest, as if he felt glad of this opportunity of meeting one +of the Thompson family. + +"And we've come to ask you to be so good as to explain your position as +regards malgamite. What are ye, anyway?" + +"My dear sir," began Lord Ferriby, with one hand upraised in mild +expostulation, "let us be a little more conciliatory in our manner. We +are, I am sure (I speak for myself and my fellow-directors, whom you +see before you), most desirous of avoiding any unpleasantness, and we +are ready to give you all the information in our power, when"--he +paused, and waved a graceful hand--"when you have proved your right to +demand such information." + +"Our right is that of representatives of a great trade. We four men, +that have been deputed to see you on the matter, have at our backs no +less than eight thousand employees--honest, hard-workin' men, whose +bread you are taking out of their mouths. We are not afraid of the +ordinary vicissitudes of commerce. If ye had quietly worked this +monopoly in fair competition, we should have known how to meet ye. But +ye come before the world as philanthropists, and ye work a great +monopoly under the guise of doin' a good work. It was a dirty thing to +do." + +Lord Ferriby shrugged his shoulders. "My dear sir," he said, "you fail +to grasp the situation. We have given our time and attention to the +grievances of these poor men, whose lot it has been our earnest +endeavour to ameliorate. You are speaking, my dear sir, to men who +represent, not eight thousand employes, but who represent something +greater than they, namely, charity." + +"Ah'm thinking!" began Mr. MacHewlett, plaintively, and the very +richness of his accents secured a breathless attention. "Damn charity," +he concluded, abruptly. + +And Major White looked upon him in solid approval, as upon a +plain-spoken man after his own heart. + +"And we," said Mr. Thompson, "represent commerce, which was in the +world before charity, and will be there after it, if charity is going +to be handled by such as you." + +There was, it appeared, no possibility of pacifying these irate +paper-makers, whose plainness of speech was positively painful to ears +so polite as those of Lord Ferriby. A Scotchman, hard hit in his +tenderest spot, namely, the pocket, is not a person to mince words, and +Lord Ferriby was for the moment silenced by the stormy attack of Mr. +Thompson, and the sly, plaintive hits of his companion. But the +chairman of the Malgamite Fund would not give way, and only repeated +his assurances of a desire to conciliate, which desire took the form +only of words, and must, therefore, have been doubly annoying to angry +men. To him who wants war there is nothing more insulting than feeble +offers of peace. Major White expressed his readiness to fight Messrs. +Thompson and MacHewlett at one and the same time on the landing, but +this suggestion was not well received. + +Upon two of the listeners no word was lost, and Mr. Wade and Cornish +knew that the paper-makers had right upon their side. + +Quite suddenly Mr. Thompson's manner changed, and he glanced towards +the door to see that it was closed. + +"Then it's a matter of paying," he said to his companions. Turning +towards Lord Ferriby, he spoke in a voice that sounded more +contemptuous than angry. "We're plain business men," he said. "What's +your price--you and these other gentlemen?" + +"I have no price," answered Cornish, meeting the angry blue eyes and +speaking for the first time. + +"And mine is too high--for plain business men," added Major White, with +a slow smile. + +"Seeing that you're a lord," said Thompson, addressing the chairman +again, "I suppose it's a matter of thousands. Name your figure, and be +done with it." + +Lord Ferriby took the insult in quite a different spirit to that +displayed by his two co-directors. He was pale with anger, and +spluttered rather incoherently. Then he took up his hat and stick and +walked with much dignity to the door. + +He was followed down the stairs by the paper-makers, Mr. Thompson +making use of language that was decidedly bespattered with "winged +words," while Mr. MacHewlett detailed his own thoughts in a plaintive +monotone. Lord Ferriby got rather hastily into a hansom and drove away. + +"There is nothing for it," said Mr. Wade to Cornish in the gay little +office above the Ladies' Tea Association--"there is nothing for it +but to run Roden's Corner yourself." + + + + +CHAPTER XVI. + +DANGER. + +"The first and worst of all frauds is to cheat one's self." + + +Percy Roden was possessed of that love of horses which, like sentiment, +crops up in strange places. He had never been able to indulge this +taste beyond the doubtful capacities of the livery-stable. He found, +however, that at the Hague he could hire a good saddle-horse, which +discovery was made with suspicious haste after learning the fact that +Mrs. Vansittart occasionally indulged in the exercise that his soul +loved. + +Mrs. Vansittart said that she rode because one has to take exercise, +and riding is the laziest method of fulfilling one's obligations in +this respect. + +"I don't like horsy women," she said; "and I cannot understand how my +sex has been foolish enough to believe that any woman looks her best, +or, indeed, anything but her worst, in the saddle." + +There is a period in the lives of most men when they are desirous of +extending their knowledge of the surrounding country on horseback, on a +bicycle, on foot, or even on their hands and knees, if such journeys +might be accomplished in the company of a certain person. Percy Roden +was at this period, and he soon discovered that there are tulip farms +in the neighbourhood of The Hague. A tulip farm may serve its purpose +as well as ever did a ruin or a waterfall in more picturesque countries +than Holland; for, indeed, during the last weeks in April and the early +half of May, these fields of waving yellow, pink, and red are worth +traveling many miles to see. As for Mrs. Vansittart, it may be said of +her, as of the rest of her sex under similar circumstances, that it +suited her purpose to say that she would like nothing better than to +visit the tulip farms. + +Roden's suggestion included breakfast at the Villa des Dunes, whither +Mrs. Vansittart drove in her habit, while her saddle-horse was to +follow later. Dorothy welcomed her readily enough, with, however, a +reserve at the back of her grey eyes. A woman is, it appears, ready to +forgive much if love may be held out as an excuse, but Dorothy did not +believe that Mrs. Vansittart had any love for Percy; indeed, she +shrewdly suspected that all that part of this woman's life belonged to +the past, and would remain there until the end of her existence. There +are few things more astonishing to the close observer of human nature +than the accuracy and rapidity with which one woman will sum up +another. + +"You are not in your habit," said Mrs. Vansittart, seating herself at +the breakfast-table. "You are not to be of the party?" + +"No," answered Dorothy. "I have never had the opportunity or the +inclination to ride." + +"Ah, I know," laughed the elder woman. "Horses are old-fashioned, and +only dowagers drive in a barouche to-day. I suppose you ride a bicycle, +or would do so in any country but Holland, where the roads make that +craze a madness. I must be content with my old-fashioned horse. If, in +moving with the times, one's movements are apt to be awkward, it is +better to be left behind, is it not, Mr. Roden?" + +Roden's glance expressed what he did not care to say in the presence of +a third person. When a woman, whose every movement is graceful, speaks +of awkwardness, she assuredly knows her ground. + +Mrs. Vansittart, moreover, showed clearly enough that she was on the +safe side of forty by quite a number of years when it came to settling +herself in the saddle and sitting her fresh young horse. + +"Which way?" she inquired when they reached the canal. + +"Not that way, at all events," answered Roden, for his companion had +turned her horse's head toward the malgamite works. + +He spoke with a laugh that was not pleasant to the ears, and a shadow +passed through Mrs. Vansittart's dark eyes. She glanced across the +yellow sand hills, where the works were effectually concealed by the +rise and fall of the wind-swept land, from whence came no sign of human +life, and only at times, when the north wind blew, a faint and not +unpleasant odour like the smell of sealing-wax. For all that the world +knew of the malgamite workers, they might have been a colony of lepers. +"You speak," said Mrs. Vansittart, "as if you were a failure instead of +a brilliant success. I think"--she paused for a moment, as if the +thought were a real one and not a mere conversational convenience, as +are the thoughts of most people--"that the cream of social life +consists of the cheery failures." + +"I have no faith in my own luck," answered Percy Roden, gloomily, whose +world was a narrow one, consisting as it did of himself and his +bank-book. Moreover, most men draw aside readily enough the curtain +that should hide the world in which they live, whereas women take their +stand before their curtain and talk, and talk--of other things. + +Mrs. Vansittart had never for a moment been mistaken in her estimate of +her companion, of--as he considered himself--her lover. She had +absolutely nothing in common with him. She was a physically lazy, but a +mentally active woman, whose thoughts ran to abstract matters so +persistently that they brought her to the verge of abstraction itself. + +Percy Roden, on the other hand, would, with better health, have been an +athlete. In his youth he had overtaxed his strength on the football +field. When he took up a newspaper now he read the money column first +and the sporting items next. + +Mrs. Vansittart glanced at neither of these, and as often as not +contented herself with the advertisements of new books, passing idly +over the news of the world with a heedless eye. She, at all events, +avoided the mistake, common to men and women of a journalistic +generation, of allowing themselves to be vastly perturbed over events +in far countries, which can in no way affect their lives. + +Roden, on the other hand, took a certain broad interest in the progress +of the world, but only watched the daily procession of events with the +discriminating eye of a business man. He kept his eye, in a word, on +the main chance, as on a small golden thread woven in the grey tissue +of the world's history. + +It was easy enough to make him talk of himself and of the Malgamite +scheme. + +"And you must admit that you are a success, you know," said Mrs. +Vansittart. "I see your quiet grey carts, full of little square boxes, +passing up Park Straat to the railway station in a procession every +day." + +"Yes," admitted Roden. "We are doing a large business." + +He was willing to allow Mrs. Vansittart to suppose that he was a rich +man, for he was shrewd enough to know that the affections, like all +else in this world, are purchasable. + +"And there is no reason," suggested Mrs. Vansittart, "why you should +not go on doing a large business, as you say your method of producing +malgamite is an absolute secret." + +"Absolute." + +"And the process is preserved in your memory only?" asked the lady, +with a little glance towards him which would have awakened the vanity +of wiser men than Percy Roden. + +"Not in my memory," he answered. "It is very long and technical, and I +have other things to think of. It is in Von Holzen's head, which is a +better one than mine." + +"And suppose Herr von Holzen should fall down and die, or be murdered, +or something dramatic of that sort--what would happen?" + +"Ah," answered Roden, "we have a written copy of it, written in Hebrew, +in our small safe at the works, and only Von Holzen and I have the keys +of the safe." + +Mrs. Vansittart laughed. "It sounds like a romance," she said. She +pulled up, and sat motionless in the saddle for a few moments. "Look at +that line of sea," she said, "on the horizon. What a wonderful blue." + +"It is always dark like that with an east wind," replied Roden, +practically. "We like to see it dark." + +Mrs. Vansittart turned and looked at him interrogatively, her mind only +half-weaned from the thoughts which he never understood. + +"Because we know that the smell of malgamite will be blown out to sea," +he explained; and she gave a little nod of comprehension. + +"You think of everything," she said, without enthusiasm. + +"No; I only think of you," he answered, with a little laugh, which +indeed was his method of making love. + +For fear of Mrs. Vansittart laughing at him, he laughed at love--a very +common form of cowardice. She smiled and said nothing, thus tacitly +allowing him, as she had allowed him before, to assume that she was not +displeased. She knew that in love he was the incarnation of caution, +and would only venture so far as she encouraged him to come. She had +him, in a word, thoroughly in hand. + +They rode on, talking of other things; and Roden, having sped his +shaft, seemed relieved in mind, and had plenty to say--about himself. A +man's interests are himself, and malgamite naturally formed a large +part of Roden's conversation. Mrs. Vansittart encouraged him with a +singular persistency to talk of this interesting product. + +"It is wonderful," she said--"quite wonderful." + +"Well, hardly that," he answered slowly, as if there were something +more to be said, which he did not say. + +"And I do not give so much credit to Herr von Holzen as you suppose," +added Mrs. Vansittart, carelessly. "Some day you will have to fulfil +your promise of taking me over the works." + +Roden did not answer. He was perhaps wondering when he had made the +promise to which his companion referred. + +"Shall we go home that way?" asked Mrs. Vansittart, whose experience of +the world had taught her that deliberate and steady daring in social +matters usually, succeeds. "We might have a splendid gallop along the +sands at low tide, and then ride up quietly through the dunes. I take a +certain interest in--well--in your affairs, and you have never even +allowed me to look at the outside of the malgamite works." + +"Should like to know the extent of your interest," muttered Roden, with +his awkward laugh. + +"I dare say you would," replied Mrs. Vansittart, coolly. "But that is +not the question. Here we are at the cross-roads. Shall we go home by +the sands and the dunes?" + +"If you like," answered Roden, not too graciously. + +According to his lights, he was honestly in love with Mrs. Vansittart, +but Percy Roden's lights were not brilliant, and his love was not a +very high form of that little-known passion. It lacked, for instance, +unselfishness, and love that lacks unselfishness is, at its best, a +sorry business. He was afraid of ridicule. His vanity would not allow +him to risk a rebuff. His was that faintness of heart which is all too +common, and owes its ignoble existence to a sullen vanity. He wanted to +be sure that Mrs. Vansittart loved him before he betrayed more than a +half-contemptuous admiration for her. Who knows that he was not dimly +aware of his own inferiority, and thus feared to venture? + +The tide was low, as Mrs. Vansittart had foreseen, and they galloped +along the hard, flat sands towards Scheveningen, where a few clumsy +fishing-boats lay stranded. Far out at sea, others plied their trade, +tacking to and fro over the banks, where the fish congregate. +The sky was clear, and the deep-coloured sea flashed here and there +beneath the sun. Objects near and far stood out in the clear air with a +startling distinctness. It was a fresh May morning, when it is good to +be alive, and better to be young. + +Mrs. Vansittart rode a few yards ahead of her companion, with a set +face and deep calculating eyes. When they came within sight of the tall +chimney of the pumping-station, it was she who led the way across the +dunes. "Now," she suddenly inquired, pulling up, and turning in her +saddle, "where are your works? It seems that one can never discover +them." + + +Roden passed her and took the lead. "I will take you there, since you +are so anxious to go--if you will tell me why you wish to see the +works," he said. + +"I should like to know," she answered, with averted eyes and a slow +deliberation, "where and how you spend so much of your time." + +"I believe you are jealous of the malgamite works," he said, with his +curt laugh. + +"Perhaps I am," she admitted, without meeting his glance; and Roden +rode ahead, with a gleam of satisfaction in his heavy eyes. + +So Mrs. Vansittart found herself within the gates of the malgamite +works, riding quietly on the silent sand, at the heels of Roden's +horse. + +The workmen's dinner-bell had rung as they approached, and now the +factories were deserted, while within the cottages the midday meal +occupied the full attention of the voluntary exiles. For the directors +had found it necessary, in the interests of all concerned, to bind the +workers by solemn contract never to leave the precincts of the works +without permission. + +Roden did not speak, but led the way across an open space now filled +with carts, which were to be loaded during the day in readiness for an +early despatch on the following morning. Mrs. Vansittart followed +without asking questions. She was prepared to content herself with a +very cursory visit. + +They had not progressed thirty yards from the entrance gate, which +Roden had opened with a key attached to his watch-chain, when the door +of one of the cottages moved, and Von Holzen appeared. He was hatless, +and came out into the sunshine rather hurriedly. + +"Ah, madame," he said, "you honour us beyond our merits." And he stood, +smiling gravely, in front of Mrs. Vansittart's horse. + +She surreptitiously touched the animal with her heel, but Von Holzen +checked its movement by laying his hand on the bridle. + +"Alas!" he said, "it happens to be our mixing day, and the factories +are hermetically closed while the process goes forward. Any other day, +madame, that your fancy brings you over the dunes, I should be +delighted--but not to-day. I tell you frankly there is danger. You +surely would not run into it." He looked up at her with his searching +gaze. + +"Ah! you think it is easy to frighten me, Herr von Holzen," she cried, +with a little laugh. + +"No; but I would not for the world that you should unwittingly run any +risks in this place." + +As he spoke, he led the horse quietly to the gate, and Mrs. Vansittart, +seeing her helplessness, submitted with a good grace. + +Roden made no comment, and followed, not ill pleased, perhaps, at this +simple solution of his difficulty. + +Von Holzen did not refer to the incident until late in the evening, +when Roden was leaving the works. + +"This is too serious a time," he said, "to let women, or vanity, +interfere in our plans. You know that the deaths are on the increase. +Anything in the nature of an inquiry at this time would mean ruin, +and--perhaps worse. Be careful of that woman. I sometimes think that +she is fooling you.--But I think," he added to himself, when the gate +was closed behind Roden, "that I can fool her." + + + + +CHAPTER XVII. + +PLAIN SPEAKING. + +"A tous maux, il y a deux remedes--le temps et le silence." + + +"They call me Uncle Ben--comprenny?" one man explained very slowly to +another for the sixth time across a small iron table set out upon the +pavement. + +They were seated in front of the humble Cafe de l'Europe, which lies +concealed in an alley that runs between the Keize Straat and the +lighthouse of Scheveningen. It was quite dark and a lonely reveler at +the next table seemed to be asleep. The economical proprietor of the +Cafe de l'Europe had conceived the idea of constructing a long-shaped +lantern, not unlike the arm of a railway signal, which should at once +bear the insignia of his house and afford light to his out-door custom. +But the idea, like many of the higher flights of the human imagination, +had only left the public in the dark. + +"Yes," continued the unchallenged speaker, in a voice which may be +heard issuing from the door of any tavern in England on almost any +evening of the week--the typical voice of the tavern-talker--"yes, +they've always called me Uncle Ben. Seems as if they're sort o' fond of +me. Me has seen many hundreds of 'em come and go. But nothing like +this. Lord save us!" + +His hand fell heavily on the iron table, and he looked round him in +semi-intoxicated stupefaction. He was in a confidential humour, and +when a man is in this humour, drunk or sober, he is in a parlous state. +It was certainly rather unfortunate that Uncle Ben should have in this +expansive moment no more sympathetic companion than an ancient, +intoxicated Frenchman, who spoke no word of English. + +"What I want to know, Frenchy," continued the Englishman, in a thick, +aggrieved voice, "is how long you've been at this trade, and how much +you know about it--you and the other Frenchy. But there's none of us +speaks the other's lingo. It is a regular Tower of Babble we are!" And +Uncle Ben added to his mental confusion a further alcoholic fog. +"That's why I showed yer the way out of the works over the iron fence +by the empty casks, and brought yer by the beach to this 'ere house of +entertainment, and stood yer a bottle of brandy between two of +us--which is handsome, not bein' my own money, seeing as how the others +deputed me to do it--me knowing a bit of French, comprenny?" Benjamin, +like most of his countrymen, considering that if one speaks English in +a loud, clear voice, and adds "comprenny" rather severely, as +indicating the intention of standing no nonsense, the previous remarks +will translate themselves miraculously in the hearer's mind. "You +comprenny--eh? Yes. Oui." "Oui," replied the Frenchman, holding out his +glass; and Uncle Ben's was that pride which goes with a gift of +tongues. + +He struck a match to light his pipe--one of the wooden, sulphur-headed +matches supplied by the _cafe_--and the guest at the next table turned +in his chair. The match flared up and showed two faces, which he +studied keenly. Both faces were alike unwashed and deeply furrowed. +White, straggling beards and whiskers accentuated the redness of the +eyelids, the dull yellow of the skin. They were hopeless and debased +faces, with that disquieting resemblance which is perceptible in the +faces of men of dissimilar features and no kinship, who have for a +number of years followed a common calling, or suffered a common pain. + +These two men were both half blind; they had equally unsteady hands. +The clothing of both alike, and even their breath, was scented by a not +unpleasant odour of sealing-wax. + +It was quite obvious that not only were they at present half +intoxicated, but in their soberest moments they could hardly be of a +high intelligence. + +The reveller at the next table, who happened to be Tony Cornish, now +drew his chair nearer. + +"Englishman?" he inquired. + +"That's me," answered Uncle Ben, with commendable pride, "from the top +of my head to me boots. Not that I've anything to say against +foreigners." + +"Nor I; but it's pleasant to meet a countryman in a foreign land." +Cornish deliberately brought his chair forward. "Your bottle is empty," +he added; "I'll order another. Friend's a Frenchman, eh?" + +"That he is--and doesn't understand his own language either," answered +Uncle Ben, in a voice indicating that that lack of comprehension rather +intensified his friend's Frenchness than otherwise. + +The proprietor of the Cafe de l'Europe now came out in answer to +Cornish's rap on the iron table, and presently brought a small bottle +of brandy. + +"Yes," said Cornish, pouring out the spirit, which his companions drank +in its undiluted state from small tumblers--"yes, I'm glad to meet an +Englishman. I suppose you are in the works--the Malgamite?" + +"I am. And what do you know about malgamite, mister?" + +"Well, not much, I am glad to say." + +"There is precious few that knows anything," said the man, darkly, and +his eye for a moment sobered into cunning. + +"I have heard that it is a very dangerous trade, and if you want to get +out of it I'm connected with an association in London to provide +situations for elderly men who are no longer up to their work," said +Cornish, carelessly. + +"Thank ye, mister; not for me. I'm making my five-pound note a week, I +am, and each cove that dies off makes the survivors one richer, so to +speak--survival of the fittest, they call it. So we don't talk much, and +just pockets the pay." + +"Ah, that is the arrangement, is it?" said Cornish, indifferently. +"Yes. We've got a clever financier, as they call it, I can tell yer. +We're a good-goin' concern, we are. Some of us are goin' pretty quick, +too." + +"Are there many deaths, then?" + +"Ah! there you're asking a question," returned the man, who came of a +class which has no false shame in refusing a reply. + +Cornish looked at the man beneath the dim light of the unsuccessful +lamp--a piteous specimen of humanity, depraved, besotted, without +outward sign of a redeeming virtue, although a certain courage must +have been there--this and such as this stood between him and +Dorothy Roden. Uncle Ben had known starvation at one time, for +starvation writes certain lines which even turtle soup may never wipe +out--lines which any may read and none may forget. Tony Cornish had +seen them before--on the face of an old dandy coming down the steps of +a St. James's Street club. The malgamiter had likewise known drink long +and intimately, and it is no exaggeration to say that he had stood +cheek by jowl with death nearly all his life. + +Such a man was plainly not to be drawn away from five pounds a week. + +Cornish turned to the Frenchman--a little, cunning, bullet-headed +Lyonnais, who would not speak of his craft at all, though he expressed +every desire to be agreeable to monsieur. + +"When one is _en fete_," he cried, "it is good to drink one's glass or +two and think no more of work." + +"I knew one or two of your men once," said Cornish, returning to the +genial Uncle Ben. "William Martins, I remember, was a decent fellow, +and had seen a bit of the world. I will come to the works and look him +up some day." + +"You can look him up, mister, but you won't find him." + +"Ah, has he gone home?" + +"He's gone to his long home, that's where he's gone." + +"And his brother, Tom Martins, both London men, like myself?" inquired +Cornish, without asking that question which Uncle Ben considered such +exceedingly bad form. + +"Tom's dead, too." + +"And there were two Americans, I recollect--I came across from Harwich +in the same boat with them--Hewlish they were called." + +"Hewlishes has stepped round the corner, too," admitted Uncle Ben. "Oh +yes; there's been changes in the works, there's no doubt. And there's +only one sort o' change in the malgamite trade. Come on, Frenchy, +time's up." + +The men stood up and bade Cornish good night, each after his own +manner, and went away steadily enough. It was only their heads that +were intoxicated, and perhaps the brandy of the Cafe de l'Europe had +nothing to do with this. + +Cornish followed them, and, in the Keize Straat, he called a cab, +telling the man to drive to the house at the corner of Oranje Straat +and Park Straat, occupied by Mrs. Vansittart. That lady, the servant +said, in reply to his careful inquiry, was at home and alone, and, +moreover, did not expect visitors. The man was not at all sure that +madame would receive. + +"I will try," said Cornish, writing two words in German on the corner +of his visiting-card. "You see," he continued, noticing a well-trained +glance, "that I am not dressed, so if other visitors arrive, I would +rather not be discovered in madame's salon, you understand?" + +Mrs. Vansittart shook hands with Cornish in silence, her quick eyes +noted the change in him which the shrewd butler had noticed in the +entrance-hall. The Cornish of a year earlier would have gone back to +the hotel to dress. + +"I was just going out to the Witte society concert," said Mrs. +Vansittart. "I thought the open air and the wood would be pleasant this +evening. Shall we go or shall we remain?" She stood with her hand on +the bell looking at him. + +"Let us remain here," he answered. + +She rang the bell and countermanded the carriage. Then she sat slowly +down, moving as under a sort of oppression, as if she foresaw what the +next few minutes contained, and felt herself on the threshold of one of +the surprises that Fate springs upon us at odd times, tearing aside the +veils behind which human hearts have slept through many years. For +indifference is not the death, but only the sleep of the heart. + +"You have just arrived?" + +"No; I have been here a week." + +"At The Hague?" + +"No," answered Cornish, with a grave smile; "at a little inn in +Scheveningen, where no questions are asked." + +Mrs. Vansittart nodded her head slowly. "Then, _mon ami_," she said, +"the time has come for plain speaking?" + +"I suppose so." + +"It is always the woman who wants to get to the plain speaking," she +said, with a smile, "and who speaks the plainest when one gets there. +You men are afraid of so many words; you think them, but you dare not +make use of them. And how are women to know that you are thinking +them?" She spoke with a sort of tolerant bitterness, as if all these +questions no longer interested her personally. She sat forward, with +one hand on the arm of her chair. "Come," she said, with a little laugh +that shook and trembled on the brink of a whole sea of unshed tears, "I +will speak the first word. When my husband died, my heart broke--and +it was Otto von Holzen who killed him." Her eyes flashed suddenly, and +she threw herself back in the chair. Her hands were trembling. + +Cornish made a quick gesture of the hand--a trick he had learnt +somewhere on the Continent, more eloquent than a hundred words--which +told of his sympathy and his comprehension of all that she had left +unsaid. For truly she had told him her whole history in a dozen words. + +"I have followed him and watched him ever since," she went on at +length, in a quiet voice; "but a woman is so helpless. I suppose if any +of us were watched and followed as he has been our lives would appear a +strange mixture of a little good and much bad, mixed with a mass of +neutral idleness. But surely his life is worse than the rest--not that +it matters. Whatever his life had been, if he had been a living saint, +Tony, he would have had to pay--for what he has done to me." + +She looked steadily into the keen face that was watching hers. She was +not in the least melodramatic, and what was stranger, perhaps, she was +not ashamed. According to her lights, she was a good woman, who went to +church regularly, and did a little conventional good with her +superfluous wealth. She obeyed the unwritten laws of society, and +busied herself little in her neighbours' affairs. She was kind to her +servants, and did not hate her neighbours more than is necessary in a +crowded world. She led a blameless, unoccupied, and apparently +purposeless life. And now she quietly told Tony Cornish that her life +was not purposeless, but had for its aim the desire of an eye for an +eye and a life for a life. + +"You remember my husband," continued Mrs. Vansittart, after a pause. +"He was always absorbed in his researches. He made a great discovery, +and confided in Otto von Holzen, who thought that he could make a +fortune out of it. But Von Holzen cheated and was caught. There was a +great trial, and Von Holzen succeeded in incriminating my husband, who +was innocent, instead of himself. The company, of course, failed, which +meant ruin and dishonour. In a fit of despair my husband shot himself. +And afterwards it transpired that by shooting himself at that time he +saved my money. One cannot take proceedings against a dead man, it +appears. So I was left a rich woman, after all, and my husband had +frustrated Otto von Holzen. The world did not believe that my husband +had done it on purpose; but I knew better. It is one of those beliefs +that one keeps to one's self, and is indifferent whether the world +believes or not. So there remain but two things for me to do--the one +is to enjoy the money, and to let my husband see that I spend it as he +would have wished me to spend it--upon myself; the other is to make +Otto von Holzen pay--when the time comes. Who knows? the Malgamite is +perhaps the time; you are perhaps the man." She gave her disquieting +little laugh again, and sat looking at him. + +"I understand," he said at length. "Before, I was puzzled. There seemed +no reason why you should take any interest in the scheme." + +"My interest in the Malgamite scheme narrows down to an interest in one +person," answered Mrs. Vansittart, "which is what really happens to all +human interests, my friend." + + + + +CHAPTER XVIII. + +A COMPLICATION. + +"La plus grande punition infligee a l'homme, c'est faire souffrir ce +qu'il aime, en voulant frapper ce qu'il hait." + + +Cornish had, as he told Mrs. Vansittart, been living a week at +Scheveningen in one of the quiet little inns in the fishing-town, where +a couple of apples are displayed before lace curtains in the window of +the restaurant as a modest promise of entertainment within. Knowing no +Dutch, he was saved the necessity of satisfying the curiosity of a +garrulous landlady, who, after many futile questions which he +understood perfectly, came to the conclusion that Cornish was in +hiding, and might at any moment fall into the hands of the police. + +There are, it appears, few human actions that attract more curiosity +for a short time than the act of colonization. But no change is in the +long run so apathetically accepted as the presence of a colony of +aliens. Cornish soon learnt that the malgamite works were already +accepted at Scheveningen as a fact of small local importance. One or +two fish-sellers took their wares there instead of going direct to The +Hague. A few of the malgamite workers were seen at times, when they +could get leave, on the Digue, or outside the smaller _cafes_. +Inoffensive, stricken men these appeared to be, and the big-limbed, +hardy fishermen looked on them with mingled contempt and pity. No one +knew what the works were, and no one cared. Some thought that fireworks +were manufactured within the high fence; others imagined it to be a +gunpowder factory. All were content with the knowledge that the +establishment belonged to an English company employing no outside +labour. + +Cornish spent his days unobtrusively walking on the dunes or writing +letters in his modest rooms. His evenings he usually passed at the Cafe +de l'Europe, where an occasional truant malgamite worker would indulge +in a mild carouse. From these grim revelers Cornish elicited a good +deal of information. He was not actually, as his landlady suspected, in +hiding, but desired to withhold as long as possible from Von Holzen and +Roden the fact that he was in Holland. None of the malgamite workers +recognized him; indeed, he saw none of those whom he had brought across +to The Hague, and he did not care to ask too many questions. At length, +as we have seen, he arrived at the conclusion that Von Holzen's schemes +had been too deeply laid to allow of attack by subtler means, and as a +preliminary to further action called on Mrs. Vansittart. + +The following morning he happened to take his walk within sight of the +Villa des Dunes, although far enough away to avoid risk of recognition, +and saw Percy Roden leave the house shortly after nine to proceed +towards the works. Then Tony Cornish lighted a cigarette, and sat down +to wait. He knew that Dorothy usually walked to The Hague before the +heat of the day to do her shopping there and household business. He had +not long to wait. Dorothy quitted the little house half an hour after +her brother. But she did not go towards The Hague, turning to the right +instead, across the open dunes towards the sea. It was a cool morning +after many hot days, and a fresh, invigorating breeze swept over the +sand hills from the sea. It was to be presumed that Dorothy, having +leisure, was going to the edge of the sea for a breath of the brisk air +there. + +Cornish rose and followed her. He was essentially a practical +man--among the leaders of a practical generation. The day, moreover, +was conducive to practical thoughts and not to dreams, for it was grey +and yet of a light air which came bowling in from a grey sea whose +shores have assuredly been trodden by the most energetic of the races +of the world. For all around the North Sea and on its bosom have risen +races of men to conquer the universe again and again. + +Cornish had come with the intention of seeing Dorothy and speaking with +her. He had quite clearly in his mind what he intended to say to her. +It is not claimed for Tony Cornish that he had a great mind, and that +this was now made up. But his thoughts, like all else about him, were +neat and compact, wherein he had the advantage of cleverer men, who +blundered along under the burden of vast ideas, which they could not +put into portable shape, and over which they constantly stumbled. + +He followed Dorothy, who walked briskly over the sand hills, upright, +trim, and strong. She carried a stick, which she planted firmly enough +in the sand as she walked. As he approached, he could see her lifting +her head to look for the sea; for the highest hills are on the shore +here, and stand in the form of a great barrier between the waves and +the low-lying plains. She swung along at the pace which Mrs. Vansittart +had envied her, without exertion, with that ease which only comes from +perfect proportions and strength. + +Cornish was quite close to her before she heard his step, and turned +sharply. She recognized him at once, and he saw the colour slowly rise +to her face. She gave no cry of surprise, however, was in no foolish +feminine flutter, but came towards him quietly. + +"I did not know you were in Holland," she said. + +He shook hands without answering. All that he had prepared in his mind +had suddenly vanished, leaving not a blank, but a hundred other things +which he had not intended to say, and which now, at the sight of her +face, seemed inevitable. + +"Yes," he said, looking into her steady grey eyes, "I am in +Holland--because I cannot stay away--because I cannot live without you. +I have pretended to myself and to everybody else that I come to The +Hague because of the Malgamite; but it is not that. It is because you +are here. Wherever you are I must be; wherever you go I must follow +you. The world is not big enough for you to get away from me. It is so +big that I feel I must always be near you--for fear something should +happen to you--to watch over you and take care of you. You know what my +life has been...." + +She turned away with a little shrug of the shoulders and a shake of the +head. For a woman may read a man's life in his face--in the twinkling +of an eye--as in an open book. + +"All the world knows that...." he continued, with a sceptical laugh. +"Is it not written ... in the society papers? But it has always been +aboveboard--and harmless enough...." + +Dorothy smiled as she looked out across the grey sea. He was, it +appeared, telling her nothing that she did not know. For she was wise +and shrewd--of that pure leaven of womankind which leaveneth all the +rest. And she knew that a man must not be judged by his life--not even +by outward appearance, upon which the world pins so much faith--but by +that occasional glimpse of the soul of him, which may live on, pure +through all impurity, or may be foul beneath the whitest covering. + +"Of course," he continued, "I have wasted my time horribly--I have +never done any good in the world. But--great is the extenuating +circumstance! I never knew what life was until I saw it ... in your +eyes." + +Still she stood with her back half turned towards him, looking out +across the sea. The sun had mastered the clouds and all the surface of +the water glittered. A few boats on the horizon seemed to dream and +sleep there. Beneath the dunes, the sand stretched away north and south +in an unbroken plain. The wind whispered through the waving grass, and, +far across the sands, the sea sang its eternal song. Dorothy and +Cornish seemed to be alone in this world of sea and sand. So far as the +eye could see, there were no signs of human life but the boats dreaming +on the horizon. + +"Are you quite sure?" said Dorothy, without turning her head. + +"Of what...?" + +"Of what you say." + +"Yes; I am quite sure." + +"Because," she said, with a little laugh that suddenly opened the gates +of Paradise and bade one more poor human-being enter in--"because it is +a serious matter ... for me." + +Then, because he was a practical man and knew that happiness, like all +else in this life, must be dealt with practically if aught is to be +made of it, he told her why he had come. For happiness must not be +rushed at and seized with wild eyes and grasping hands, but must be +quickly taken when the chance offers, and delicately handled so that it +be not ruined by over haste or too much confidence. It is a gift that +is rarely offered, and it is only fair to say that the majority of men +and women are quite unfit to have it. Even a little prosperity (which +is usually mistaken for happiness) often proves too much for the mental +equilibrium, and one trembles to think what the recipient would do with +real happiness. + +"I did not come here intending to tell you that," said Cornish, after a +pause. + + +They were seated now on the dry and driven sand, among the inequalities +of the tufted grass. + +Dorothy glanced at him gravely, for his voice had been grave. + +"I think I knew," she answered, with a sort of quiet exultation. +Happiness is the quietest of human states. + +Cornish turned to look at her, and after a moment she met his eyes--for +an instant only. + +"I came to tell you a very different story," he said, "and one which at +the moment seems to present insuperable difficulties. I can only show +you that I care for you by bringing trouble into your life--which is not +even original." + +He broke off with a little, puzzled laugh. For he did not know how best +to tell her that her brother was a scoundrel. He sat making idle holes +in the sand with his stick. + +"I am in a difficulty," he said at length--"so great a difficulty that +there seems to be only one way out of it. You must forget what I have +told you to-day, for I never meant to tell you until afterwards, if +ever. Forget it for some months until the malgamite works have ceased +to exist, and then, if I have the good fortune to be given an +opportunity, I will"--he paused--"I will mention myself again," he +concluded steadily. + +Dorothy's lips quivered, but she said nothing. It seemed that she was +content to accept his judgment without comment as superior to her own. +For the wisest woman is she who suspects that men are wiser. + + +"It is quite clear," said Cornish, "that the Malgamite scheme is a +fraud. It is worse than that; it is a murderous fraud. For Von Holzen's +new system of making malgamite is not new at all, but an old system +revived, which was set aside many years ago as too deadly. If it is not +this identical system, it is a variation of it. They are producing the +stuff for almost nothing at the cost of men's lives. In plain English, +it is murder, and it must be stopped at any cost. You understand?" + +"Yes." + +"I must stop it whatever it may cost me." + +"Yes," she answered again. + +"I am going to the works to-night to have it out with Von Holzen and +your brother. It is impossible to say how matters really stand--how +much your brother knows, I mean--for Von Holzen is clever. He is a +cold, calculating man, who rules all who come near him. Your brother +has only to do with the money part of it. They are making a great +fortune. I am told that financially it is splendidly managed. I am a +duffer at such things, but I understand better now how it has all been +done, and I see how clever it is. They produce the stuff for almost +nothing, they sell it at a great price, and they have a monopoly. And +the world thinks it is a charity. It is not; it is murder." + +He spoke quietly, tapping the ground with his stick, and emphasizing +his words with a deeper thrust into the sand. The habit of touching +life lightly had become second nature with him, and even now he did not +seem quite serious. He was, at all events, free from that deadly +earnestness which blinds the eye to all save one side of a question. +The very soil that he tapped could have risen up to speak in favour of +such as he; for William the Silent, it is said, loved a jest, and never +seemed to be quite serious during the long years of the greatest +struggle the modern world has seen. + +"It seems probable," went on Cornish, "that your brother has been +gradually drawn into it; that he did not know when he first joined Von +Holzen what the thing really was--the system of manufacture, I mean. As +for the financial side of it, I am afraid he must have known of that +all along; but the older one gets the less desirous one is of judging +one's neighbour. In financial matters so much seems to depend, in the +formation of a judgment, whether one is a loser or a gainer by the +transaction. There is a great fortune in malgamite, and a fortune is a +temptation to be avoided. Others besides your brother have been +tempted. I should probably have succumbed myself if it had not +been--for you." + + +She smiled again in a sort of derision; as if she could have told him +more about himself than he could tell her. He saw the smile, and it +brought a flash of light to his eyes. Deeper than fear of damnation, +higher than the creeds, stronger than any motive in a man's life, is +the absolute confidence placed in him by a woman. + +"I went into the thing thoughtlessly," he continued, "because it was +the fashion at the time to be concerned in some large charity. And I am +not sorry. It was the luckiest move I ever made. And now the thing will +have to be gone through with, and there will be trouble." + +But he laughed as he spoke; for there was no trouble in their hearts, +neither could anything appall them. + + + + +CHAPTER XIX. + +DANGER. + +"Beware equally of a sudden friend and a slow enemy." + + +Roden and Von Holzen were at work in the little office of the malgamite +works. The sun had just set, and the soft pearly twilight was creeping +over the sand hills. The day's work was over, and the factories were +all locked up for the night. In the stillness that seems to settle over +earth and sea at sunset, the sound of the little waves could be +heard--a distant, constant babbling from the west. The workers had gone +to their huts. They were not a noisy body of men. It was their custom +to creep quietly home when their work was done, and to sit in their +doorways if the evening was warm, or with closed doors if the north +wind was astir, and silently, steadily assuage their deadly thirst. +Those who sought to harvest their days, who fondly imagined they were +going to make a fight for it, drank milk according to advice handed +down to them from their sickly forefathers. The others, more reckless, +or wiser, perhaps, in their brief generation, took stronger drink to +make glad their hearts and for their many infirmities. + +They had merely to ask, and that which they asked for was given to them +without comment. + +"Yes," said Uncle Ben to the new-comers, "you has a slap-up time--while +it lasts." + +For Uncle Ben was a strong man, and waxed garrulous in his cups. He had +made malgamite all his life and nothing would kill him, not even drink. +Von Holzen watched Uncle Ben, and did not like him. It was Uncle Ben +who played the concertina at the door of his hut in the evening. He +sprang from the class whose soul takes delight in the music of a +concertina, and rises on bank holidays to that height of gaiety which +can only be expressed by an interchange of hats. He came from the slums +of London, where they breed a race of men, small, ill-formed, +disease-stricken, hard to kill. + +The north wind was blowing this evening, and the huts were all closed. +The sound of Uncle Ben's concertina could be dimly heard in what +purported to be a popular air--a sort of nightmare of a tune such as a +barrel-organist must suffer after bad beer. Otherwise, there was +nothing stirring within the enclosure. There was, indeed, a hush over +the whole place, such as Nature sometimes lays over certain spots like +a quiet veil, as one might lay a cloth over the result of an accident, +and say, "There is something wrong here; go away." + +Cornish, having tried the main entrance gate, found it locked, and no +bell with which to summon those within. He went round to the northern +end of the enclosure, where the sand had drifted against the high +corrugated iron fencing, and where there were empty barrels on the +inner side, as Uncle Ben had told him. + +"After all, I am a managing director of this concern," said Cornish to +himself, with a grim laugh, as he clambered over the fence. + +He walked down the row of huts very slowly. Some of them were empty. +The door of one stood ajar, and a sudden smell of disinfectant made him +stop and look in. There was something lying on a bed covered by a grimy +sheet. + +"Um--m," muttered Cornish, and walked on. + +There had been another visitor to the malgamite works that day. Then +Cornish paused for a moment near Uncle Ben's hut, and listened to +"Ta-ra-ra boom-de-ay." He bit his lips, restraining a sudden desire to +laugh without any mirth in his heart, and went towards Von Holzen's +office, where a light gleamed through the ill-closed curtains. For +these men were working night and day now--making their fortunes. He +caught, as he passed the window, a glimpse of Roden bending over a +great ledger which lay open before him on the table, while Von Holzen, +at another desk, was writing letters in his neat German hand. + +Then Cornish went to the door, opened it, and passing in, closed it +behind him. + +"Good evening," he said, with just a slight exaggeration of his usual +suave politeness. + +"Halloa!" exclaimed Roden, with a startled look, and instinctively +closing his ledger. + +He looked hastily towards Von Holzen, who turned, pen in hand. Von +Holzen bowed rather coldly. + +"Good evening," he answered, without looking at Roden. Indeed, he +crossed the room, and placed himself in front of his companion. + +"Just come across?" inquired Roden, putting together his papers with +his usual leisureliness. + +"No; I have been here some time." + +Cornish turned and met Von Holzen's eyes with a ready audacity. He was +not afraid of this silent scientist, and had been trained in a social +world where nerve and daring are highly cultivated. Von Holzen looked +at him with a measuring eye, and remembered some warning words spoken +by Roden months before. This was a cleverer man than they had thought +him. This was the one mistake they had made in their careful scheme. + +"I have been looking into things," said Cornish, in a final voice. He +took off his hat and laid it aside. + +Von Holzen went slowly back to his desk, which was a high one. He stood +there close by Roden, leaning his elbow on the letters that he had been +writing. The two men were thus together facing Cornish, who stood at +the other side of the table. + +"I have been looking into things," he repeated, "and--the game is up." + +Roden, whose face was quite colourless, shrugged his shoulders with a +sneering smile. Von Holzen slowly moistened his lips, and Cornish, +meeting his glance, felt his heart leap upward to his throat. His +way had been the way of peace. He had never seen that look in a man's +eyes before, but there was no mistaking it. There are two things that +none can mistake--an earthquake, and murder shining in a man's eyes. +But there was good blood in Cornish's veins, and good blood never +fails. His muscles tightened, and he smiled in Von Holzen's face. + +"When you were over in London a fortnight ago," he said, "you saw my +uncle, and squared him. But I am not Lord Ferriby, and I am not to be +squared. As to the financial part of this business"--he paused, and +glanced at the ledgers--"that seems to be of secondary importance at +the moment. Besides, I do not understand finance." + +Roden's tired eyes flickered at the way in which the word was spoken. + +"I propose to deal with the more vital questions," Cornish continued, +looking straight at Von Holzen. "I want details of the new process--the +prescription, in fact." + +"Then you want much," answered Von Holzen, with his slight accent. + +"Oh, I want more than that," was the retort; "I want a list of your +deaths--not necessarily for publication. If the public were to hear of +it, they would pull the place down about your ears, and probably hang +you on your own water-tower." + +Von Holzen laughed. "Ah, my fine gentleman, if there is any hanging up +to be done, you are in it, too," he said. Then he broke into a +good-humoured laugh, and waved the question aside with his hand. "But +why should we quarrel? It is mere foolishness. We are not schoolboys, +but men of the world, who are reasonable, I hope. I cannot give you the +prescription because it is a trade secret. You would not understand it +without expert assistance, and the expert would turn his knowledge to +account. We chemists, you see, do not trust each other. No; but I can +make malgamite here before your eyes--to show you that it is +harmless--what?" He spoke easily, with a certain fascination of manner, +as a man to whom speech was easy enough--who was perhaps silent with a +set purpose--because silence is safe. "But it is a long process," he +added, holding up one finger, "I warn you. It will take me two hours. +And you, who have perhaps not dined, and this Roden, who is tired +out--" + +"Roden can go home--if he is tired," said Cornish. + +"Well," answered Von Holzen, with outspread hands, "it is as you like. +Will you have it now and here?" + +"Yes--now and here." + +Roden was slowly folding away his papers and closing his books. He +glanced curiously at Von Holzen, as if he were displaying a hitherto +unknown side to his character. Von Holzen, too, was collecting the +papers scattered on his desk, with a patient air and a half-suppressed +sigh of weariness, as if he were entering upon a work of +supererogation. + +"As to the deaths," he said, "I can demonstrate that as we go along. +You will see where the dangers lie, and how criminally neglectful these +people are. It is a curious thing, that carelessness of life. I am told +the Russian soldiers have it." + +It seemed that in his way Herr von Holzen was a philosopher, having in +his mind a store of odd human items. He certainly had the power of +arousing curiosity and making his hearers wish him to continue +speaking, which is rare. Most men are uninteresting because they talk +too much. + +"Then I think I will go," said Roden, rising. He looked from one to the +other, and received no answer. "Good night," he added, and walked to +the door with dragging feet. + +"Good night," said Cornish. And he was left alone for the first time in +his life with Von Holzen, who was clearing the table and making his +preparations with a silent deftness of touch acquired by the handling +of delicate instruments, the mixing of dangerous drugs. + +"Then our good friend Lord Ferriby does not know that you are here?" he +inquired, without much interest, as if acknowledging the necessity of +conversation of some sort. + +"No," answered Cornish. + +"When I have shown you this experiment," pursued Von Holzen, setting +the lamp on a side-table, "we must have a little talk about his +lordship. With all modesty, you and I have the clearest heads of all +concerned in this invention." He looked at Cornish with his sudden, +pleasant smile. "You will excuse me," he said, "if while I am doing +this I do not talk much. It is a difficult thing to keep in one's head, +and all the attention is required in order to avoid a mistake or a +mishap." + +He had already assumed an air of unconscious command, which was +probably habitual with him, as if there were no question between them +as to who was the stronger man. Cornish sat, pleasantly silent and +acquiescent, but he felt in no way dominated. It is one thing to assume +authority, and another to possess it. + +"I have a little laboratory in the factory where I usually work, but +not at night. We do not allow lights in there. Excuse me, I will fetch +my crucible and lamp." + +And he went out, leaving Cornish alone. There was only one door to the +room, leading straight out into the open. The office, it appeared, was +built in the form of an annex to one of the storehouses, which stood +detached from all other buildings. + +In a few minutes Von Holzen returned, laden with bottles and jars. One +large wicker-covered bottle with a screw top he set carefully on the +table. + +"I had to find them in the dark," he explained absent-mindedly, as if +his thoughts were all absorbed by the work in hand. "And one must be +careful not to jar or break any of these. Please do not touch them in +my absence." As he spoke, he again examined the stoppers to see that +all was secure. "I come again," he said, making sure that the large +basket-covered bottle was safe. Then he walked quickly out of the room +and closed the door behind him. + +Almost immediately Cornish was conscious of a bitter taste in his +mouth, though he could smell nothing. The lamp suddenly burnt blue and +instantly went out. + +Cornish stood up, groping in the dark, his head swimming, a deadly +numbness dragging at his limbs. He had no pain, only a strange +sensation of being drawn upwards. Then his head bumped against the +door, and the remaining glimmer of consciousness shaped itself into the +knowledge that this was death. He seemed to swing backwards and +forwards between life and death--between sleep and consciousness. Then +he felt a cooler air on his lips. He had fallen against the door, which +did not fit against the threshold, and a draught of fresh air whistled +through upon his face. "Carbonic acid gas," he muttered, with shaking +lips. "Carbonic acid gas." He repeated the words over and over again, +as a man in delirium repeats that which has fixed itself in his +wandering brain. Then, with a great effort, he brought himself to +understand the meaning of the words that one portion of his brain kept +repeating to the other portion which could not comprehend them. He +tried to recollect all that he knew of carbonic acid gas, which was, in +fact, not much. He vaguely remembered that it is not an active gas that +mingles with the air and spreads, but rather it lurks in corners--an +invisible form of death--and will so lurk for years unless disturbed +by a current of air. + + Cornish knew that in falling he had fallen out of the radius of the +escaping gas, which probably filled the upper part of the room. If he +raised himself, he would raise himself into the gas, which was slowly +descending upon him, and that would mean instant death. He had already +inhaled enough--perhaps too much. He lay quite still, breathing the +draught between the door and the threshold, and raising his left hand, +felt for the handle of the door. He found it and turned it. The door +was locked. He lay still, and his brain began to wander, but with an +effort he kept a hold upon his thoughts. He was a strong man, who had +never had a bad illness--a cool head and an intrepid heart. +Stretching out his legs, he found some object close to him. It was Von +Holzen's desk, which stood on four strong legs against the wall. +Cornish, who was quick and observant, remembered now how the room was +shaped and furnished. He gathered himself together, drew in his legs, +and doubled himself, with his feet against the desk, his shoulder +against the door. He was long and lithe, of a steely strength which he +had never tried. He now slowly straightened himself, and tore the +screws out of the solid wood of the door, which remained hanging by the +upper hinge. His head and shoulders were now out in the open air. +He lay for a moment or two to regain his breath, and recover from the +deadly nausea that follows gas poisoning. Then he rose to his feet, and +stood swaying like a drunken man. Von Holzen's cottage was a few yards +away. A light was burning there, and gleamed through the cracks of the +curtains. + +Cornish went towards the cottage, then paused. "No," he muttered, +holding his head with both hands. "It will keep." And he staggered away +in the darkness towards the corner where the empty barrels stood +against the fence. + + + + +CHAPTER XX. + +FROM THE PAST. + +"One and one with a shadowy third." + + +"You have the air, _mon ami_, of a malgamiter," said Mrs. Vansittart, +looking into Cornish's face--"lurking here in your little inn in a back +street! Why do you not go to one of the larger hotels in Scheveningen, +since you have abandoned The Hague?" + +"Because the larger hotels are not open yet," replied Cornish, bringing +forward a chair. + +"That is true, now that I think of it. But I did not ask the question +wanting an answer. You, who have been in the world, should know women +better than to think that. I asked in idleness--a woman's trick. +Yes; you have been or you are ill. There is a white look in your face." + +She sat looking at him. She had walked all the way from Park Straat in +the shade of the trees--quite a pedestrian feat for one who confessed to +belonging to a carriage generation. She had boldly entered the +restaurant of the little hotel, and had told the waiter to take her to +Mr. Cornish's apartment. + +"It hardly matters what a very young waiter, at the beginning of his +career, may think of us. But downstairs they are rather scandalized, I +warn you," she said. + +"Oh, I ceased explaining many years ago," replied Cornish, "even in +English. More suspicion is aroused by explanation than by silence. For +this wise world will not believe that one is telling the truth." + +"When one is not," suggested Mrs. Vansittart. + +"When one is not," admitted Cornish, in rather a tired voice, which, to +so keen an ear as that of his hearer, was as good as asking her why she +had come. + +She laughed. "Yes," she said, "you are not inclined to sit and talk +nonsense at this time in the morning. No more am I. I did not walk from +Park Straat and take your defences by storm, and subject myself to the +insult of a raised eyebrow on the countenance of a foolish young +waiter, to talk nonsense even with you, who are cleverer with your +non-committing platitudes than any man I know." She laughed rather +harshly, as many do when they find themselves suddenly within hail, as +it were, of that weakness which is called feeling. "No, I came here +on--let us say--business. I hold a good card, and I am going to play +it. I want you to hold your hand in the mean time; give me to-day, you +understand. I have taken great care to strengthen my hand. This is no +sudden impulse, but a set purpose to which I have led up for some +weeks. It is not scrupulous; it is not even honest. It is, in a word, +essentially feminine, and not an affair to which you as a man could +lend a moment's approval. Therefore, I tell you nothing. I merely ask +you to leave me an open field to-day. Our end is the same, though our +methods and our purpose differ as much as--well, as much as our minds. +You want to break this Malgamite corner. I want to break Otto von +Holzen. You understand?" + +Cornish had known her long enough to permit himself to nod and say +nothing. + +"If I succeed, _tant mieux_. If I fail, it is no concern of yours, and +it will in no way affect you or your plans. Ah, you disapprove, I see. +What a complicated world this would be if we could all wear masks! Your +face used to be a safer one than it is now. Can it be that you are +becoming serious--_un jeune homme serieux?_ Heaven save you from that!" + +"No; I have a headache; that is all," laughed +Cornish. + +Mrs. Vansittart was slowly unbuttoning and rebuttoning her glove, deep +in thought. For some women can think deeply and talk superficially at +the same moment. + +"Do you know," she said, with a sudden change of voice and manner, "I +have a conviction that you know something to-day of which you were +ignorant yesterday? All knowledge, I suppose, leaves its mark. +Something about Otto von Holzen, I suspect. Ah, Tony, if you know +something, tell it to me. If you hold a strong card, let me play it. +You do not know how I have longed and waited--what a miserable little +hand I hold against this strong man." + +She was serious enough now. Her voice had a ring of hopelessness in it, +as if she knew that limit against which a woman is fated to throw +herself when she tries to injure a man who has no love for her. If the +love be there, then is she strong, indeed; but without it, what can she +do? It is the little more that is so much, and the little less that is +such worlds away. + +Cornish did not deny the knowledge which she ascribed to him, but +merely shook his head, and Mrs. Vansittart suddenly changed her manner +again. She was quick and clever enough to know that whatever account +stood open between Cornish and Von Holzen the reckoning must be between +them alone, without the help of any woman. + +"Then you will remain indoors," she said, rising, "and recover from +your ... strange headache--and not go near the malgamite works, nor see +Percy Roden or Otto von Holzen--and let me have my little try--that is +all I ask." + +"Yes," answered Cornish, reluctantly; "but I think you would be wiser +to leave Von Holzen to me." + +"Ah!" said Mrs. Vansittart, with one of her quick glances. "You think +that." + +She paused on the threshold, then shrugged her shoulders and passed +out. She hurried home, and there wrote a note to Percy Roden. + +"DEAR MR. RODEN, + +"It seems a long time since I saw you last, though perhaps it only +seems so to _me_. I shall be at home at five o'clock this evening, if +you care to take pity on a lonely countrywoman. If I should be out +riding when you come, please await my return. + +"Yours very truly, + +"EDITH VANSITTART." + +She closed the letter with a little cruel smile, and despatched it by +the hand of a servant. Quite early in the afternoon she put on her +habit, but did not go straight downstairs, although her horse was at +the door. She went to the library instead--a small, large-windowed room, +looking on to Oranje Straat. From a drawer in her writing-table she +took a key, and examined it closely before slipping it into her pocket. +It was a new key with the file-marks still upon it. + +"A clumsy expedient," she said. "But the end is so desirable that the +means must not be too scrupulously considered." + +She rode down Kazerne Straat and through the wood by the Leyden Road. +By turning to the left, she soon made her way to the East Dunes, and +thus describing a circle, rode slowly back towards Scheveningen. She +knew her way, it appeared, to the malgamite works. Leaving her horse in +the care of the groom, she walked to the gate of the works, which was +opened to her by the doorkeeper, after some hesitation. The man was a +German, and therefore, perhaps, more amenable to Mrs. Vansittart's +imperious arguments. + +"I must see Herr von Holzen without delay," she said. "Show me his +office." + + + +The man pointed out the building. "But the Herr Professor is in the +factory," he said. "It is mixing-day to-day. I will, however, fetch +him." + +Mrs. Vansittart walked slowly towards the office where Roden had told +her that the safe stood wherein the prescription and other papers were +secured. She knew it was mixing-day and that Von Holzen would be in the +factory. She had sent Roden on a fool's errand to Park Straat to await +her return there. Was she going to succeed? Would she be left alone for +a few moments in that little office with the safe? She fingered the key +in her pocket--a duplicate obtained at some risk, with infinite +difficulty, by the simple stratagem of borrowing Roden's keys to open +an old and disused desk one evening in Park Straat. She had conceived +the plan herself, had carried it out herself, as all must who wish to +succeed in a human design. She was quite aware that the plan was crude +and almost childish, but the gain was great, and it is often the +simplest means that succeed. The secret of the manufacture of +malgamite--written in black and white--might prove to be Von Holzen's +death-warrant. Mrs. Vansittart had to fight in her own way or not fight +at all. She could not understand the slower, surer methods of Mr. Wade +and Cornish, who appeared to be waiting and wasting time. + +The German doorkeeper accompanied her to the office, and opened the +door after knocking and receiving no answer. + +"Will the high-born take a seat?" he said; "I shall not be long." + +"There is no need to hurry," said Mrs. Vansittart to herself. + +And before the door was quite closed she was on her feet again. The +office was bare and orderly. Even the waste-paper baskets were empty. +The books were locked away and the desks were clear. But the small +green safe stood in the corner. Mrs. Vansittart went towards it, key in +hand. The key was the right one. It had only been selected by guesswork +among a number on Roden's bunch. It slipped into the lock and turned +smoothly, but the door would not move. She tugged and wrenched at the +handle, then turned it accidentally, and the heavy door swung open. +There were two drawers at the bottom of the safe which were not locked, +and contained neatly folded papers. Her fingers were among these in a +moment. The papers were folded and tied together. Many of the bundles +were labelled. A long narrow envelope lay at the bottom of the drawer. +She seized it quickly and turned it over. It bore no address nor any +superscription. "Ah!" she said breathlessly, and slipped her finger +within the flap of the envelope. Then she hesitated for a moment, and +turned on her heel. Von Holzen was standing in the doorway looking at +her. + +They stared at each other for a moment in silence. Mrs. Vansittart's +lips were drawn back, showing her even, white teeth. Von Holzen's quiet +eyes were wide open, so that the white showed all around the dark +pupil. Then he sprang at her without a word. She was a lithe, strong +woman, taller than he, or else she would have fallen. Instead, she +stood her ground, and he, failing to get a grasp at her wrist, stumbled +sideways against the table. In a moment she had run round it, and again +they stared at each other, without a word, across the table where Percy +Roden kept the books of the malgamite works. + +A slow smile came to Von Holzen's face, which was colourless always, +and now a sort of grey. He turned on his heel, walked to the door, and, +locking it, slipped the key into his pocket. Then he returned to Mrs. +Vansittart. Neither spoke. No explanation was at that moment necessary. +He lifted the table bodily, and set it aside against the wall. Then he +went slowly towards her, holding out his hand for the unaddressed +envelope, which she held behind her back. He stood for a moment holding +out his hand while his strong will went out to meet hers. Then he +sprang at her again and seized her two wrists. The strength of his arms +was enormous, for he was a deep-chested man, and had been a gymnast. +The struggle was a short one, and Mrs. Vansittart dropped the envelope +helplessly from her paralyzed fingers. He picked it up. + +"You are the wife of Karl Vansittart," he said in German. + +"I am his widow," she replied; and her breath caught, for she was still +shaken by the physical and moral realization of her absolute +helplessness in his hands, and she saw in a flash of thought the +question in his mind as to whether he could afford to let her leave the +room alive. + +"Give me the key with which you opened the safe," he said coldly. + +She had replaced the key in her pocket, and now sought it with a +shaking hand. She gave it to him without a word. Morally she would not +acknowledge herself beaten, and the bitterness of that moment was the +self-contempt with which she realized a physical cowardice which she +had hitherto deemed quite impossible. For the flesh is always surprised +by its own weakness. + +Von Holzen looked at the key critically, turning it over in order to +examine the workmanship. It was clumsily enough made, and he doubtless +guessed how she had obtained it. Then he glanced at her as she stood +breathless with a colourless face and compressed lips. + +"I hope I did not hurt you," he said quietly, thereby putting in a dim +and far-off claim to greatness, for it is hard not to triumph in +absolute victory. + +She shook her head with a twisted smile, and looked down at her hands, +which were still helpless. There were bands of bright red round the +white wrists. Her gloves lay on the table. She went towards them and +numbly took them up. He was impassive still, and his face, which had +flushed a few moments earlier, slowly regained its usual calm pallor. +It was this very calmness, perhaps, that suddenly incensed Mrs. +Vansittart. Or it may have been that she had regained her courage. + +"Yes," she cried, with a sort of break in her voice that made it +strident--"yes. I am Karl Vansittart's wife, and I--cared for him. Do +you know what that means? But you can't. All that side of life is a +closed book to such as you. It means that if you had been a hundred +times in the right and he always in the wrong, I should still have +believed in him and distrusted you--should still have cared for him and +hated you. But he was not guilty. He was in the right and you were +wrong--a thief and a murderer, no doubt. And to screen your paltry +name, you sacrificed Karl and the happiness of two people who had just +begun to be happy. It means that I shall not rest until I have made you +pay for what you have done. I have never lost sight of you--and never +shall--" + +She paused, and looked at his impassive face with a strange, dull +curiosity as she spoke of the future, as if wondering whether she had a +future or had reached the end of her life--here, at this moment, in the +little plank-walled office of the malgamite works. But her courage rose +steadily. It is only afar off that Death is terrible. When we actually +stand in his presence, we usually hold up our heads and face him +quietly enough. + +"You may have other enemies," she continued. "I know you have--men, +too--but none of them will last so long as I shall, none of them is to +be feared as I am--" + +She stopped again in a fury, for he was obviously waiting for her to +pause for mere want of breath, as if her words could be of no weight. + +"If you fear anything on earth," she said, acknowledging is one merit +despite herself. + +"I fear you so little," he answered, going to the door and unlocking +it, "that you may go." + +Her whip lay on the table. He picked it up and handed it to her, +gravely, without a bow, without a shade of triumph or the smallest +suspicion of sarcasm. There was perhaps the nucleus of a great man in +Otto von Holzen, after all, for there was no smallness in his mind. He +opened the door, and stood aside for her to pass out. + +"It is not because you do not fear me--that you let me go," said Mrs. +Vansittart. "But--because you are afraid of Tony Cornish." + +And she went out, wondering whether the shot had told or missed. + + + + +CHAPTER XXI. + +A COMBINED FORCE. + +"Hear, but be faithful to your interest still. + Secure your heart, then fool with whom you will." + + +Mrs. Vansittart walked to the gate of the malgamite works, thinking +that Von Holzen was following her on the noiseless sand. At the gate, +which the porter threw open on seeing her approach, she turned and +found that she was alone. Von Holzen was walking quietly back towards +the factory. He was so busy making his fortune that he could not give +Mrs. Vansittart more than a few minutes. She bit her lip as she went +towards her horse. Neglect is no balm to the wounds of the defeated. + +She mounted her horse and looked at her watch. It was nearly five +o'clock, and Percy Roden was doubtless waiting for her in Park Straat. +It is a woman's business to know what is expected of her. Mrs. +Vansittart recalled in a very matter-of-fact way the wording of her +letter to Roden. She brushed some dust from her habit, and made sure +that her hair was tidy. Then she fell into deep thought, and set her +mind in a like order for the work that lay before her. A man's deepest +schemes in love are child's play beside the woman's schemes that meet +or frustrate his own. Mrs. Vansittart rode rapidly home to Park Straat. + +Mr. Roden, the servant told her, was awaiting her return in the +drawing-room. She walked slowly upstairs. Some victories are only to be +won with arms that hurt the bearer. Mrs. Vansittart's mind was warped, +or she must have known that she was going to pay too dearly for her +revenge. She was sacrificing invaluable memories to a paltry hatred. + +"Ah!" she said to Roden, whose manner betrayed the recollection of her +invitation to him, "so I have kept you waiting--a minute, perhaps, for +each day that you have stayed away from Park Straat." + +Roden laughed, with a shade of embarrassment, which she was quick to +detect. + +"Is it your sister," she asked, "who has induced you to stay away?" + +"Dorothy has nothing but good to say of you," he answered. + +"Then it is Herr von Holzen," said Mrs. Vansittart, laying aside her +gloves and turning towards the tea-table. She spoke quietly and rather +indifferently, as one does of persons who are removed by a social +grade. "I have never told you, I believe, that I happen to know +something of your--what is he?--your foreman. He has probably warned +you against me. My husband once employed this Von Holzen, and was, I +believe, robbed by him. We never knew the man socially, and +I have always suspected that he bore us some ill feeling on that +account. You remember--in this room, when you brought him to call soon +after your works were built--that he referred to having met my husband. +Doubtless with a view to finding out how much I knew, or if I was in +reality the wife of Charles Vansittart. But I did not choose to +enlighten him." + +She had poured out tea while she spoke. Her hands were unsteady still, +and she drew down the sleeve of her habit to hide the discoloration of +her wrist. She turned rather suddenly, and saw on Roden's face the +confession that it had been due to Von Holzen's influence that he had +absented himself from her drawing-room. + +"However," she said, with a little laugh, and in a final voice, as if +dismissing a subject of small importance--"however, I suppose Herr von +Holzen is rising in the world, and has the sensitive vanity of persons +in that trying condition." + +She sat down slowly, remembering her pretty figure in its smart habit. +Roden's slow eyes noted the pretty figure also, which she observed, one +may be sure. + +"Tell me your news," she said. "You look tired and ill. It is hard work +making one's fortune. Be sure that you know what you want to buy before +you make it, or afterwards you may find that it has not been worth +while to have worked so hard." + +"Perhaps what I want is not to be bought," he said, with his eyes on +the carpet. For he was an awkward player at this light game. + +"Ah!" she exclaimed. "Then it must be either worthless or priceless." + +He looked at her, but he did not speak, and those who are quick to +detect the fleeting shade of pathos might have seen it in the glance of +the tired eyes. For Percy Roden was only clever as a financier, and +women have no use for such cleverness, only for the results of it. +Roden was conscious of making no progress with Mrs. Vansittart, who +handled him as a cat handles a disabled mouse while watching another +hole. + +"You have been busier than ever, I suppose," she said, "since you have +had no time to remember your friends." + +"Yes," answered Roden, brightening. He was so absorbed in the most +absorbing and lasting employment of which the human understanding is +capable that he could talk of little else, even to Mrs. Vansittart. +"Yes, we have been very busy, and are turning out nearly ten tons a day +now. And we have had trouble from a quarter in which we did not expect +it. Von Holzen has been much worried, I know, though he never says +anything. He may not be a gentleman, Mrs. Vansittart, but he is a +wonderful man." + +"Ah," said Mrs. Vansittart, indifferently; and something in her manner +made him all the more desirous of explaining his reasons for +associating himself with a person who, as she had subtly and +flatteringly hinted more than once, was far beneath him from a social +point of view. This desire rendered him less guarded than it was +perhaps wise to be under the circumstances. + +"Yes, he is a very clever man--a genius, I think. He rises to each +difficulty without any effort, and every day shows me new evidence of +his foresight. He has done more than you think in the malgamite works. +His share of the work has been greater than anybody knows. I am only +the financier, you understand. I know about bookkeeping and +about--money--how it should be handled--that is all." + +"You are too modest, I think," said Mrs. Vansittart, gravely. "You +forget that the scheme was yours; you forget all that you did in +London." + +"Yes--while Von Holzen was doing more here. He had the more difficult +task to perform. Of course I did my share in getting the thing up. It +would be foolish to deny that. I suppose I have a head on my shoulders, +like other people." And Mr. Percy Roden, with his hand at his +moustache, smiled a somewhat fatuous smile. He thought, perhaps, that a +woman will love a man the more for being a good man of business. + +"Yes," said Mrs. Vansittart, softly. + +"But I should like Von Holzen to have his due," said Roden, rather +grandly. "He has done wonders, and no one quite realizes that except +perhaps Cornish." + +"Indeed! Does Mr. Cornish give Herr von Holzen his due, then?" + +"Cornish does his best to upset Von Holzen's plans at every turn. He +does not understand business at all. When that sort of man goes into +business he invariably gets into trouble. He has what I suppose he +calls scruples. It comes, I imagine, from not having been brought up to +it." Roden spoke rather hotly. He was of a jealous disposition, and +disliked Mrs. Vansittart's attitude towards Cornish. "But he is no +match for Von Holzen," he continued, "as he will find to his cost. Von +Holzen is not the sort of man to stand any kind of interference." + + + +"Ah?" said Mrs. Vansittart again, in the slightly questioning and +indifferent manner with which she received all defence of Otto von +Holzen, and which had the effect of urging Roden to further +explanation. + +"He is not a man I should care to cross myself," he said, determined to +secure Mrs. Vansittart's full attention. "He has the whole of the +malgamiters at his beck and call, and is pretty powerful, I can tell +you. They are a desperate set of fellows; men engaged in a dangerous +industry do not wear kid gloves." + +Mrs. Vansittart was watching him across the low tea-table; for Roden +rarely looked at his interlocutor. He had more of her attention than he +perhaps suspected. + +"Ah," she said, rather more indifferently than before, "I think you +exaggerate Herr von Holzen's importance in the world." + +"I do not exaggerate the danger into which Cornish will run if he is +not careful," retorted Roden, half sullenly. + +There was a ring of anxiety in his voice. Mrs. Vansittart glanced +sharply at him. It was borne in upon her that Roden himself was afraid +of Von Holzen. This was more serious than it had at first appeared. +There are periods in every man's history when human affairs suddenly +appear to become unmanageable and the course of events gets beyond any +sort of control--when the hand at the helm falters, and even the +managing female of the family hesitates to act. Roden seemed to have +reached such a crisis now, and Mrs. Vansittart; charm she never so +wisely, could not brush the frown of anxiety from his brow. He was in +no mood for love-making, and men cannot call up this fleeting humour, +as a woman can, when it is wanted. So they sat and talked of many +things, both glancing at the clock with a surreptitious eye. They were +not the first man and woman to go hunting Cupid with the best will in +the world--only to draw a blank. + +At length Roden rose from his chair with slow, lazy movements. +Physically and morally he seemed to want tightening up. + +"I must go back to the works," he said. "We work late to-night." + +"Then do not tell Herr von Holzen where you have been," replied Mrs. +Vansittart, with a warning smile. Then, on the threshold, with a +gravity and a glance that sent him away happy, she added, "I do not +want you to discuss me with Otto von Holzen, you understand!" + +She stood with her hand on the bell, looking at the clock, while he +went downstairs. The moment she heard the street door closed behind him +she rang sharply. + +"The brougham," she said to the servant, "at once." + +Ten minutes later she was rattling down Maurits Kade towards the Villa +des Dunes. A deep bank of clouds had risen from the west, completely +obscuring the sun, so that it seemed already to be twilight. Indeed, +nature itself appeared to be deceived, and as the carriage left the +town behind and emerged into the sandy quiet of the suburbs, the +countless sparrows in the lime-trees were preparing for the night. The +trees themselves were shedding an evening odour, while, from canal and +dyke and ditch, there arose that subtle smell of damp weed and grass +which hangs over the whole of Holland all night. + +"The place smells of calamity," said Mrs. Vansittart to herself, as she +quitted the carriage and walked quickly along the sandy path to the +Villa des Dunes. + +Dorothy was in the garden, and, seeing her, came to the gate. Mrs. +Vansittart had changed her riding-habit for one of the dark silks she +usually wore, but she had forgotten to put on any gloves. + +"Come," she said rapidly, taking Dorothy's hand, and holding it--"come +to the seat at the end of the garden where we sat one evening when we +dined alone together. I do not want to go indoors. I am nervous, +I suppose. I have allowed myself to give way to panic like a child in +the dark. I felt lonely in Park Straat, with a house full of servants, +so I came to you." + +"I think there is going to be a thunderstorm," said Dorothy. + +And Mrs. Vansittart broke into a sudden laugh. "I knew you would say +that. Because you are modern and practical--or, at all events, you show +a practical face to the world, which is better. Yes, one may say that +much for the modern girl, at all events--she keeps her head. As to her +heart--well, perhaps she has not got one." + +"Perhaps not," admitted Dorothy. + +They had reached the seat now, and sat down beneath the branches of a +weeping-willow, trimly trained in the accurate Dutch fashion. Mrs. +Vansittart glanced at her companion, and gave a little, low, wise +laugh. + + +"I did well to come to you," she said, "for you have not many words. +You have a sense of humour--that saving sense which so few people +possess--and I suspect you to be a person of action. I came in a panic, +which is still there, but in a modified degree. One is always more +nervous for one's friends than for one's self. Is it not so? It is for +Tony Cornish that I fear." + +Dorothy looked steadily straight in front of her, and there was a short +silence. + +"I do not know why he stays in Holland, and I wish he would go home," +continued Mrs. Vansittart. "It is unreasoning, I know, and foolish, but +I am convinced that he is running into danger." She stopped suddenly, +and laid her hand upon Dorothy's; for she had caught many foreign ways +and gestures. "Listen," she said, in a lower tone. "It is useless for +you and me to mince matters. The Malgamite scheme is a terrible crime, +and Tony Cornish means to stop it. Surely you and I have long suspected +that. I know Otto von Holzen. He killed my husband. He is a most +dangerous man. He is attempting to frighten Tony Cornish away from +here, and he does not understand the sort of person he is dealing with. +One does not frighten persons of the stamp of Tony Cornish, whether man +or woman. I have made Tony promise not to leave his room to-day. For +to-morrow I cannot answer. You understand?" + +"Yes," answered Dorothy, with a sudden light in her eyes, "I +understand." + +"Your brother must take care of himself. I care nothing for Lord +Ferriby, or any others concerned in this, but only for Tony Cornish, +for whom I have an affection, for he was part of my past life--when I +was happy. As for the malgamiters, they and their works may--go hang!" +And Mrs. Vansittart snapped her fingers. "Do you know Major White?" she +asked suddenly. + +"Yes; I have seen him once." + +"So have I--only once. But for a woman once is often enough--is it not +so?--to enable one to judge. I wish we had him here." + +"He is coming," answered Dorothy. "I think he is coming to-morrow. When +I saw Mr. Cornish yesterday, he told me that he expected him. I believe +he wrote for him to come. He also wrote to Mr. Wade, the banker, asking +him to come." + +"Then he found things worse than he expected. He has, in a sense, sent +for reinforcements. When does Major White arrive--in the morning?" + +"No; not till the evening." + +"Then he comes by Flushing," said Mrs. Vansittart, practically. "You +are thinking of something. What is it?" + +"I was wondering how I could see some of the malgamite workers +to-morrow. I know some of them, and it is from them that the danger may +be expected. They are easily led, and Herr von Holzen would not scruple +to make use of them." + + "Ah!" said Mrs. Vansittart, "you have guessed that, too. I have more +than guessed it--I know it. You must see these men to-morrow." + +"I will," answered Dorothy, simply. + +Mrs. Vansittart rose and held out her hand. "Yes," she said, "I came to +the right person. You are calm, and keep your head; as to the other, +perhaps that is in safe-keeping too. Good night and come to lunch with +me to-morrow." + + + + +CHAPTER XXII. + +GRATITUDE. + +"On se guerit de la bienfaisance par la connaissance de ceux qu'on +oblige." + + +"Can you tell me if there is a moon to-night?" Mrs. Vansittart asked a +porter in the railway station at The Hague. + +The man stared at her for a moment, then realized that the question was +a serious one. + +"I will ask one of the engine-drivers, my lady," he answered, with his +hand at the peak of his cap. + +It was past nine o'clock, and Mrs. Vansittart had been waiting nearly +half an hour for the Flushing train. Her carriage was walking slowly up +and down beneath the glass roof of the entrance to the railway station. +She had taken a ticket in order to gain access to the platform, and was +almost alone there with the porters. Her glance travelled backwards and +forwards between the clock and the western sky, visible beneath the +great arch of the station. The evening was a clear one, for the month +of June still lingered, but the twilight was at hand. The Flushing +train was late to-night of all nights; and Mrs. Vansittart stamped her +foot with impatience. What was worse was Dorothy Roden's lateness. +Dorothy and Mrs. Vansittart, like two generals on the eve of a battle, +had been exchanging hurried notes all day; and Dorothy had promised to +meet Mrs. Vansittart at the station on the arrival of the train. + +"The moon is rising now, my lady--a half-moon," said the porter +approaching with that leisureliness which characterizes railway porters +between trains. + +"Why does your stupid train not come?" asked Mrs. Vansittart, with +unreasoning anger. + +"It has been signalled, my lady; a few minutes now." + +Mrs. Vansittart gave a quick sigh of relief, and turned on her heel. +She had long been unable to remain quietly in one place. She saw +Dorothy coming up the slope to the platform. At last matters were +taking a turn for the better--except, indeed, Dorothy's face, which was +set and white. + +"I have found out something," she said at once, and speaking quickly +but steadily. "It is for to-night, between half-past nine and ten." + +She had her watch in her hand, and compared it quickly with the station +clock as she spoke. + +"I have secured Uncle Ben," she said--all the ridicule of the name +seemed to have vanished long ago. "He is drunk, and therefore cunning. +It is only when he is sober that he is stupid. I have him in a cab +downstairs, and have told your man to watch him. I have been to Mr. +Cornish's rooms again, and he has not come in. He has not been in since +morning, and they do not know where he is. No one knows where he is." + +Dorothy's lip quivered for a moment, and she held it with her teeth. +Mrs. Vansittart touched her arm lightly with her gloved fingers--a +strange, quick, woman's gesture. + +"I went upstairs to his rooms," continued Dorothy. "It is no good +thinking of etiquette now or pretending----" + +"No," said Mrs. Vansittart, hurriedly, so that the sentence was never +finished. + +"I found nothing except two torn envelopes in the waste-paper basket. +One in an uneducated hand--perhaps feigned. The other was Otto von +Holzen's writing." + +"Ah! In Otto von Holzen's writing--addressed to Tony at the Zwaan at +Scheveningen?" + +"Yes." + +"Then Otto von Holzen knows where Tony is staying, at all events. We +have learnt something. You have kept the envelopes?" + +"Yes." + +They both turned at the rumble of the train outside the station. The +great engine came clanking in over the points, its lamp glaring like +the eye of some monster. + +"Provided Major White is in the train," muttered Mrs. Vansittart, +tapping on the pavement with her foot. "If he is not in the train, +Dorothy?" + +"Then we must go alone." + +Mrs. Vansittart turned and looked her slowly up and down. + + +"You are a brave woman," she said thoughtfully. + +But Major White was in the train, being a man of his word in small +things as well as in great. They saw him pushing his way patiently +through the crowd of hotel porters and others who had advice or their +services to offer him. Then he saw Mrs. Vansittart and Dorothy, and +recognized them. + +"Give your luggage ticket to the hotel porter and let him take it +straight to the hotel. You are wanted elsewhere." + +Still Major White was only in his normal condition of mild and patient +surprise. He had only met Mrs. Vansittart once, and Dorothy as often. +He did exactly as he was told without asking one of those hundred +questions which would inevitably have been asked by many men and more +women under such circumstances, and followed the ladies out of the +crowd. + +"We must talk here," said Mrs. Vansittart. "One cannot do so in a +carriage in the streets of The Hague." + +Major White bowed gravely, and looked from one to the other. He was +rather travel-worn, and seemed to be feeling the heat. + +"Tony Cornish has probably written to you about his discoveries as to +the malgamite works. We have no time to go into that question, +however," said Mrs. Vansittart, who was already beginning to be +impatient with this placid man. "He has earned the enmity of Otto von +Holzen--a man who will stop at nothing--and the malgamiters are being +raised against him by Von Holzen. Our information is very vague, but we +are almost certain that an attempt is to be made on Tony's life +to-night between half-past nine and ten. You understand?" Mrs. +Vansittart almost stamped her foot. + +"Oh yes," answered White, looking at the station clock. "Twenty +minutes' time." + +"We have the information from one of the malgamiters themselves, who +knows the time and the place, but he is tipsy. He is in a carriage +outside the station." + +"How tipsy?" asked Major White; and both his hearers shrugged their +shoulders. + +"How can we tell you that?" snapped Mrs. Vansittart; and Major White +dropped his glass from his eye. + +"Where is your brother?" he said, turning to Dorothy. He was evidently +rather afraid of Mrs. Vansittart, as a quick-spoken person not likely +to have patience with a slow man. + +"He has gone to Utrecht," answered Dorothy. "And Mr. von Holzen is not +at the works, which are locked up. I have just come from there. By a +lucky chance I met this man Ben, and have brought him here." + +White looked at Dorothy thoughtfully, and something in his gaze made +her change colour. + +"Let me see this man," he said, moving towards the exit. + +"He is in that carriage," said Dorothy, when they had reached a quiet +corner of the station yard. "You must be quick. We have only a quarter +of an hour now. He is an Englishman." + +White got into the cab with Uncle Ben, who appeared to be sleeping, and +closed the door after him. In a few moments he emerged again. + +"Tell the man to drive to a chemist's," he said to Mrs. Vansittart. +"The fellow is not so bad. I have got something out of him, and will +get more. Follow in your carriage--you and Miss Roden." + +It was Major White's turn now to take the lead, and Mrs. Vansittart +meekly obeyed, though White's movements were so leisurely as to madden +her. + +At the chemist's shop, White descended from the carriage and appeared +to have some language in common with the druggist, for he presently +returned to the carriage, carrying a tumbler. After a moment he went to +the window of Mrs. Vansittart's neat brougham. + +"I must bring him in here," he said. "You have a pair of horses which +look as if they could go. Tell your man to drive to the pumping-station +on the Dunes, wherever that may be." + +Then he went and fetched Uncle Ben, whom he brought by one arm, in a +dislocated condition, trotting feebly to keep pace with the major's +long stride. + +Mrs. Vansittart's coachman must have received very decided orders, for +he skirted the town at a rattling trot, and soon emerged from the +streets into the quiet of the Wood, which was dark and deserted. Here, +in a sandy and lonely alley, he put the horses to a gallop. The +carriage swayed and bumped. Those inside exchanged no words. From time +to time Major White shook Uncle Ben, which seemed to be a part of his +strenuous treatment. + +At length the carriage stopped on the narrow road, paved with the +little bricks they make at Gouda, that leads from Scheveningen to the +pumping-station on the Dunes. Major White was the first to quit it, +dragging Uncle Ben unceremoniously after him. Then, with his disengaged +hand, he helped the ladies. He screwed his glass tightly into his eye, +and looked round him with a measuring glance. + +"This place will be as light as day," he said, "when the moon rises +from behind those trees." + +He drew Uncle Ben aside, and talked with him for some time in a low +voice. The man was almost sober now, but so weak that he could not +stand without assistance. Major White was an advocate, it seemed, of +heroic measures. He appeared to be asking many questions, for Uncle Ben +pointed from time to time with an unsteady hand into the darkness. When +his mind, muddled with malgamite and drink, failed to rise to the +occasion, Major White shook him like a sack. After a few minutes' +conversation, Ben broke down completely, and sat against a sand-bank to +weep. Major White left him there, and went towards the ladies. + +"Will you tell your man," he said to Mrs. Vansittart, "to drive back to +the junction of the two roads and wait there under the trees?" He +paused, looking dubiously from one to the other. "And you and Miss +Roden had better go back with him and stay in the carriage." + +"No," said Dorothy, quietly. + +"Oh no!" added Mrs. Vansittart. + +And Major White moistened his lips with an air of patient toleration +for the ways of a sex which had ever been far beyond his comprehension. + +"It seems," he said, when the carriage had rolled away over the noisy +stones, "that we are in good time. They do not expect him until nearly +ten. He has been attempting for some time to get the men to refuse to +work, and these same men have written to ask him to meet them at the +works at ten o'clock, when Roden is at Utrecht, and Von Holzen is out. +There is no question of reaching the works at all. They are going to +lie in ambush in a hollow of the Dunes, and knock him on the head about +half a mile from here north-east." And Major White paused in this great +conversational effort to consult a small gold compass attached to his +watch-chain. + +The two women waited patiently. + +"Fine place, these Dunes," said the major, after a pause. "Could +conceal three thousand men between here and Scheveningen." + +"But it is not a question of hiding soldiers," said Mrs. Vansittart, +sharply, with a movement of the head indicative of supreme contempt. + +"No," admitted White. "Better hide ourselves, perhaps. No good standing +here where everybody can see us. I'll fetch our friend. Think he'll +sleep if we let him. Chemist gave him enough to kill a horse." + +"But haven't you any plans?" asked Mrs. Vansittart, in despair. "What +are you going to do? You are not going to let these brutes kill Tony +Cornish? Surely you, as a soldier, must know how to meet this crisis." + +"Oh yes. Not much of a soldier, you know," answered White, soothingly, +as he moved away towards Uncle Ben. "But I think I know how this +business ought to be managed. Come along--hide ourselves." + +He led the way across the dunes, dragging Uncle Ben by one arm, and +keeping in the hollows. The two women followed in silence on the silent +sand. + +Once Major White paused and looked back. "Don't talk," he said, holding +up a large fat hand in a ridiculous gesture of warning, which he must +have learnt in the nursery. He looked like a large baby listening for a +bogey in the chimney. + +Once or twice he consulted Uncle Ben, and as often glanced at his +compass. There was a certain skill in his attitude and demeanour, as if +he knew exactly what he was about. Mrs. Vansittart had a hundred +questions to ask him, but they died on her lips. The moon rose suddenly +over the distant trees and flooded all the sand-hills with light. Major +White halted his little party in a deep hollow, and consulted Uncle Ben +in whispers. Then bidding him sit down, he left the three alone in +their hiding-place, and went away by himself. He climbed almost to the +summit of a neighbouring mound, and stopped suddenly, with his face +uplifted, as if smelling something. Like many short-sighted persons, he +had a keen scent. In a few minutes he came back again. + +"I have found them," he whispered to Mrs. Vansittart and Dorothy. +"Smelt 'em--like sealing-wax. Eleven of them--waiting there for +Cornish." And he smiled with a sort of boyish glee. + +"What are you going to do?" whispered Mrs. Vansittart. + + +"Thump them," he answered, and presently went back to his post of +observation. + +Uncle Ben had fallen asleep, and the two women stood side by side +waiting in the moonlight. It was chilly, and a keen wind swept in from +the sea. Dorothy shivered. They could hear certain notes of certain +instruments in the band of the Scheveningen Kurhaus, nearly two miles +away. It was strange to be within sound of such evidences of +civilization, and yet in such a lonely spot--strange to reflect that +eleven men were waiting within a few yards of them to murder one. And +yet they could safely have carried out their intention, and have +scraped a hole in the sand to hide his body, in the certainty that it +would never be found; for these dunes are a miniature desert of Sahara, +where nothing bids men leave the beaten paths, where certain hollows +have probably never been trodden by the foot of man, and where the +ever-drifting sand slowly accumulates--a very abomination of +desolation. + +At length White rose to his feet agilely enough, and crept to the brow +of the dune. The men were evidently moving. Mrs. Vansittart and Dorothy +ascended the bank to the spot just vacated by White. + +Only a few dozen yards away they could see the black forms of the +malgamiters grouped together under the covert of a low hillock. Hidden +from their sight, Major White was slowly stalking them. + +Dorothy touched Mrs. Vansittart's arm, and pointed silently in the +direction of Scheveningen. A man was approaching, alone, across the +silvery sand-hills. It was Tony Cornish, walking into the trap laid for +him. + +Major White saw him also, and thinking himself unobserved, or from mere +habit acquired among his men, he moistened the tips of his fingers at +his lips. + +The malgamiters moved forward, and White followed them. They took up a +position in a hollow a few yards away from the foot-path by which +Cornish must pass. One of their number remained behind, crouching on a +mound, and evidently reporting progress to his companions below. When +Cornish was within a hundred yards of the ambush, White suddenly ran up +the bank, and lifting this man bodily, threw him down among his +comrades. He followed this vigorous attack by charging down into the +confused mass. In a few moments the malgamiters streamed away across +the sand-hills like a pack of hounds, though pursued and not pursuing. +They left some of their number on the sand behind them, for White was a +hard hitter. + +"Give it to them, Tony!" White cried, with a ring of exultation in his +voice. "Knock 'em down as they come!" + +For there was only one path, and the malgamiters had to run the +gauntlet of Tony Cornish, who knocked some of them over neatly enough +as they passed, selecting the big ones, and letting the others go free. +He knew them by the smell of their clothes, and guessed their intention +readily enough. + +It was a strange scene, and one that left the two women, watching it, +breathless and eager. + +"Oh, I wish I were a man!" exclaimed Mrs. Vansittart, with clenched +fists. + +They hurried toward Cornish and White, who were now alone on the path. +White had rolled up his sleeve, and was tying his handkerchief round +his arm with his other hand and his teeth. + +"It is nothing," he said. "One of the devils had a knife. Must get my +sleeve mended to-morrow." + + + + +CHAPTER XXIII. + +A REINFORCEMENT. + +"Prends moy telle que je suy." + + +When Major White came down to breakfast at his hotel the next morning, +he found the large room deserted and the windows thrown open to the sun +and the garden. He was selecting a table, when a step on the verandah +made him look up. Standing in the window, framed, as it were, by +sunshine and trees, was Marguerite Wade, in a white dress, with demure +lips, and the complexion of a wild rose. She was the incarnation of +youth--of that spring-time of life of which the sight tugs at the +strings of older hearts; for surely that is the only part of life which +is really and honestly worth the living. + +Marguerite came forward and shook hands gravely. Major White's left +eyebrow quivered for a moment in indication of his usual mild surprise +at life and its changing surface. + +"Feeling pretty--bobbish?" inquired Marguerite, earnestly. + +White's eyebrow went right up and his glass fell. + +"Fairly bobbish, thank you," he answered, looking at her with +stupendous gravity. + +"You look all right, you know." + +"You should never judge by appearances," said White, with a fatherly +severity. + +Marguerite pursed up her lips, and looked his stalwart frame up and +down in silence. Then she suddenly lapsed into her most confidential +manner, like a schoolgirl telling her bosom friend, for the moment, all +the truth and more than the truth. + +"You are surprised to see me here; thought you would be, you know. I +knew you were in the hotel; saw your boots outside your door last +night; knew they must be yours. You went to bed very early." + +"I have two pairs of boots," replied the major, darkly. + +"Well, to tell you the truth, I have brought papa across. Tony wrote +for him to come, and I knew papa would be no use by himself, so I came. +I told you long ago that the Malgamite scheme was up a gum-tree, and +that seems to be precisely where you are." + +"Precisely." + +"And so I have come over, and papa and I are going to put things +straight." + +"I shouldn't if I were you." + +"Shouldn't what?" inquired Marguerite. + +"Shouldn't put other people's affairs straight. It does not pay, +especially if other people happen to be up a gum-tree--make yourself +all sticky, you know." + +Marguerite looked at him doubtfully. "Ah!" she said. "That's what--is +it?" + +"That's what," admitted Major White. + +"That is the difference, I suppose, between a man and a woman," said +Marguerite, sitting down at a small table where breakfast had been laid +for two. "A man looks on at things going--well, to the dogs--and smokes +and thinks it isn't his business. A woman thinks the whole world is her +business." + +"So it is, in a sense--it is her doing, at all events." + +Marguerite had turned to beckon to the waiter, and she paused to look +back over her shoulder with shrewd, clear eyes. + +"Ah!" she said mystically. + +Then she addressed herself to the waiter, calling him "Kellner," and +speaking to him in German, in the full assurance that it would be his +native tongue. + +"I have told him," she explained to White, "to bring your little +coffee-pot and your little milk-jug and your little pat of butter to +this table." + +"So I understood." + +"Ah! Then you know German?" inquired Marguerite, with another doubtful +glance. + +"I get two pence a day extra pay for knowing German." + +Marguerite paused in her selection, of a breakfast roll from a silver +basket containing that Continental choice of breads which look so +different and taste so much alike. + +"Seems to me," she said confidentially, "that you know more than you +appear to know." + +"Not such a fool as I look, in fact." + +"That is about the size of it," admitted Marguerite, gravely. "Tony +always says that the world sees more than any one suspect. Perhaps he +is right." + +And both happening to look up at this moment, their glances met across +the little table. + +"Tony often is right," said Major White. + +There was a pause, during which Marguerite attended to the two small +coffee-pots for which she had such a youthful and outspoken contempt. +The privileges of her sex were still new enough to her to afford a +certain pleasure in pouring out beverages for other people to drink. + +"Why is Tony so fond of The Hague? Who is Mrs. Vansittart?" she asked, +without looking up. + +Major White looked stolidly out of the open window for a few minutes +before answering. + +"Two questions don't make an answer." + +"Not these two questions?" asked Marguerite, with a sudden laugh. + +"No; Mrs. Vansittart is a widow, young, and what they usually call +'charming,' I believe. She is clever, yes, very clever, and she was, I +suppose, fond of Vansittart; and that is the whole story, I take it." + +"Not exactly a cheery story." + +"No true stories are," returned the major, gravely. + +But Marguerite shook her head. In her wisdom--that huge wisdom of life +as seen from the threshold--she did not believe Mrs. Vansittart's +story. + +"Yes, but novelists and people take a true story and patch it up at the +end. Perhaps most people do that with their lives, you know; perhaps +Mrs. Vansittart--" + + +"Won't do that," said the major, staring in a stupid way out of the +window with vacant, short-sighted eyes. "Not even if Tony suggested +it--which he won't do." + +"You mean that Tony is not a patch upon the late Mr. Vansittart--that +is what _you_ mean," said Marguerite, condescendingly. "Then why does +he stay in The Hague?" + +Major White shrugged his shoulders and lapsed into a stolid silence, +broken only by a demand made presently by Marguerite to the waiter for +more bread and more butter. She looked at her companion once or twice, +and it is perhaps not astonishing that she again concluded that he must +be as dense as he looked. It is a mistake that many of her sex have +made regarding men. + +"Do you know Miss Roden?" she asked suddenly. +"I have heard a good deal about her from Joan." + +"Yes." + +"Is she pretty?" + +"Yes." + +"Very pretty?" persisted Marguerite. + +"Yes," replied the major. + +And they continued their breakfast in silence. + +Marguerite appeared to have something to think about. Major White was +in the habit of stating that he never thought, and certainly +appearances bore him out. + +"Your father is late," he said at length. + +"Yes," answered Marguerite, with a gay laugh. "Because he was afraid to +ring the bell for hot water. Papa has a rooted British conviction that +Continental chambermaids always burst into your room if you ring the +bell, whether the door is locked or not. He is nothing if not +respectable, poor old dear--would give points to any bishop in the +land." + +As she spoke her father came into the room, looking, as his daughter +had stated eminently British and respectable. He shook hands with Major +White, and seemed pleased to see him. The major was, in truth, a man +after his own heart, and one whom he looked upon as solid. For Mr. Wade +belonged to a solid generation that liked the andante of life to be +played in good heavy chords, and looked with suspicious eyes upon +brilliancy of execution or lightness of touch. + +"I have had a note from Cornish," he said, "who suggests a meeting at +this hotel this afternoon to discuss our future action. The other side +has, it appears, written to Lord Ferriby to come over to The Hague." +There had in Mr. Wade's life usually been that "other side," which he +had treated with a good, honest respect so long as they proved +themselves worthy of it; but which he crushed the moment they forgot +themselves. For there was in this British banker a vast spirit of +honest, open antagonism by which he and his likes have built up a +scattered empire on this planet. "At three o'clock," he concluded, +lifting the cover of a silver dish which Marguerite had sent back to +the kitchen awaiting her father's arrival. "And what will you do, my +dear?" he said, turning to her. + +"I?" replied Marguerite, who always knew her own mind. "I shall take a +carriage and drive down to the Villa des Dunes to see Dorothy Roden. I +have a note for her from Joan." + +And Mr. Wade turned to his breakfast with an appetite in no way +diminished by the knowledge that the "other side" were about to take +action. + +At three o'clock the carriage was awaiting Marguerite at the door of +the hotel, but for some reason Marguerite lingered in the porch, asking +questions and absolutely refusing to drive all the way to Scheveningen +by the side of the "Queen's Canal." When at length she turned to get +in, Tony Cornish was coming across the Toornoifeld under the trees; for +The Hague is the shadiest city in the world, with forest trees growing +amid its great houses. + +"Ah!" said Marguerite, holding out her hand. "You see, I have come +across to give you all a leg-up. Seems to me we are going to have +rather a spree." + +"The spree," replied Cornish, with his light laugh, "has already +begun." + +Marguerite drove away towards The Hague Wood, and disappeared among the +transparent green shadows of that wonderful forest. The man had been +instructed to take her to the Villa des Dunes by way of the Leyden +Road, making a round in the woods. It was at a point near the farthest +outskirts of the forest that Marguerite suddenly turned at the sight of +a man sitting upon a bench at the roadside reading a sheet of paper. + +"That," she said to herself, "is the Herr Professor--but I cannot +remember his name." + +Marguerite was naturally a sociable person. Indeed, a woman usually +stops an old and half-forgotten acquaintance, while men are accustomed +to let such bygones go. She told the driver to turn round and drive +back again. The man upon the bench had scarce looked up as she passed. +He had the air of a German, which suggestion was accentuated by the +solitude of his position and the poetic surroundings which he had +selected. A German, be it recorded to his credit, has a keen sense of +the beauties of nature, and would rather drink his beer before a fine +outlook than in a comfortable chair indoors. When Marguerite returned, +this man looked up again with the absorbed air of one repeating +something in his mind. When he perceived that she was undoubtedly +coming towards himself, he stood up and took off his hat. He was a +small, square-built man, with upright hair turning to grey, and a +quiet, thoughtful, clean-shaven face. His attitude, and indeed his +person, dimly suggested some pictures that have been painted of the +great Napoleon. His measuring glance--as if the eyes were weighing the +face it looked upon--distinctly suggested his great prototype. + +"You do not remember me, Herr Professor," said Marguerite, holding out +her hand with a frank laugh. "You have forgotten Dresden and the +chemistry classes at Fraeulein Weber's?" + +"No, Fraeulein; I remember those classes," the professor answered, with +a grave bow. + +"And you remember the girl who dropped the sulphuric acid into the +something of potassium? I nearly made a great discovery then, mein +Herr." + +"You nearly made the greatest discovery of all, Fraeulein. Yes, I +remember now--Fraeulein Wade." + +"Yes, I am Marguerite Wade," she answered, looking at him with a little +frown, "but I can't remember your name. You were always Herr Professor. +And we never called anything by its right name in the chemistry +classes, you know; that was part of the--er--trick. We called water H2 +or something like that. We called you J.H.U, Herr Professor." + +"What does that mean, Fraeulein?" + +"Jolly hard up," returned Marguerite, with a laugh which suddenly gave +place, with a bewildering rapidity, to a confidential gravity. "You +were poor then, mein Herr." + +"I have always been poor, Fraeulein, until now." + +But Marguerite's mind had already flown to other things. She was +looking at him again with a frown of concentration. + +"I am beginning to remember your name," she said. + +"Is it not strange how a name comes back with a face? And I had quite +forgotten both your face and your name, Herr ... Herr ... von Holz"--she +broke off, and stepped back from him--"von Holzen," she said slowly. "Then +you are the malgamite man?" + +"Yes, Fraeulein," he answered, with his grave smile; "I am the malgamite +man." + +Marguerite looked at him with a sort of wonder, for she knew enough of +the Malgamite scheme to realize that this was a man who ruled all that +came near him, against whom her own father and Tony Cornish and +Major White and Mrs. Vansittart had been able to do nothing--who in +face of all opposition continued calmly to make malgamite, and sell it +daily to the world at a preposterous profit, and at the cost only of +men's lives. + +"And you, Fraeulein, are the daughter of Mr. Wade, the banker?" + +"Yes," she answered, feeling suddenly that she was a schoolgirl again, +standing before her master. + +"And why are you in The Hague?" + +"Oh," replied Marguerite, hesitating for perhaps the first time in her +life, "to enlarge our minds, mein Herr." She was looking at the paper +he held in his hand, and he saw the direction of her glance. In +response, he laughed quietly, and held it out towards her. + +"Yes," he said, "you have guessed right. It is the Vorschrift, the +prescription for the manufacture of malgamite." + +She took the paper and turned it over curiously. Then, with her usual +audacity, she opened it and began to read. + +"Ah," she said, "it is in Hebrew." + +Von Holzen nodded his head, and held out his hand for the paper, which +she gave to him. She was not afraid of the man--but she was very near +to fear. + +"And I am sitting here, quietly under the trees, Fraeulein," he said, +"learning it by heart." + + + + +CHAPTER XXIV. + +A BRIGHT AND SHINING LIGHT. + +"Un homme serieux est celui qui se croit regarde." + + +When Lord Ferriby decided to accede to Roden's earnest desire that he +should go to The Hague, he was conscious of conferring a distinct +favour upon the Low Countries. + +"It is not a place one would choose to go to at this time of year," he +said to a friend at the club. "In the winter, it is different; for the +season there is in the winter, as in many Continental capitals." + +One of the numerous advantages attached to an hereditary title is the +certainty that a hearer of some sort or another will always be +forthcoming. A commoner finds himself snubbed or quietly abandoned so +soon as his reputation for the utterance of egoisms and platitudes is +sufficiently established, but there are always plenty of people ready +and willing to be bored by a lord. A high-class club is, moreover, a +very mushroom-bed of bores, where elderly gentlemen who have traveled +quite a distance down the road of life, without finding out that it is +bordered on either side by a series of small events not worth +commenting upon, meet to discuss trivialities. + +"Truth is," said his lordship to one of these persons, "this Malgamite +scheme is one of the largest charities that I have conducted, and +carries with it certain responsibilities--yes, certain responsibilities." + +And he assumed a grave air of importance almost amounting to worry. For +Lord Ferriby did not know that a worried look is an almost certain +indication of a small mind. Nor had he observed that those who bear the +greatest responsibilities, and have proved themselves worthy of the +burden, are precisely they who show the serenest face to the world. + +It must not, however, be imagined that Lord Ferriby was in reality at +all uneasy respecting the Malgamite scheme. Here again he enjoyed one +of the advantages of having been preceded by a grandfather able and +willing to serve his party without too minute a scruple. For if the +king can do no wrong, the nobility may surely claim a certain immunity +from criticism, and those who have allowance made to them must +inevitably learn to make allowance for themselves. Lord Ferriby was, in +a word, too self-satisfied to harbour any doubts respecting his own +conduct. Self-satisfaction is, of course, indolence in disguise. + +It was easy enough for Lord Ferriby to persuade himself that Cornish +was wrong and Roden in the right; especially when Roden, in the most +gentlemanly manner possible, paid a cheque, not to Lord Ferriby direct, +but to his bankers, in what he gracefully termed the form of a bonus +upon the heavy subscription originally advanced by his lordship. There +are many people in the world who will accept money so long as their +delicate susceptibilities are not offended by an actual sight of the +cheque. + +"Anthony Cornish," said Lord Ferriby, pulling down his waistcoat, "like +many men who have had neither training nor experience, does not quite +understand the ethics of commerce." + +His lordship, like others, seemed to understand these to mean that a +man may take anything that his neighbour is fool enough to part with. + +Joan was willing enough to accompany her father, because, in the great +march of social progress, she had passed on from charity to sanitation, +and was convinced that the mortality among the malgamiters, which had +been more than hinted at in the Ferriby family circle, was entirely due +to the negligence of the victims in not using an old disinfectant +served up in artistic flagons under a new name. Permanganate of potash +under another name will not only smell as sweet, but will perform +greater sanitary wonders, because the world places faith in a new name, +and faith is still the greatest healer of human ills. + +Joan, therefore, proposed to carry to The Hague the glad tidings of the +sanitary millennium, fully convinced that this had come to a suffering +world under the name of "Nuxine," in small bottles, at the price of one +shilling and a penny halfpenny. The penny halfpenny, no doubt, +represented the cost of bottle and drug and the small blue ribbon +securing the stopper, while the shilling went very properly into the +manufacturer's pocket. It was at this time the fashion in Joan's world +to smell of "Nuxine," which could also be had in the sweetest little +blue tabloids, to place in the wardrobe and among one's clean clothes. +Joan had given Major White a box of these tabloids, which gift had been +accepted with becoming gravity. Indeed, the major seemed never to tire +of hearing Joan's exordiums, or of watching her pretty, earnest face as +she urged him to use "Nuxine" in its various forms, and it was only +when he heard that cigar-holders made of "Nuxine" absorbed all the +deleterious properties of tobacco that his stout heart failed him. + +"Yes," he pleaded, "but a fellow must draw the line at a sky-blue +cigar-holder, you know." + +And Joan had to content herself with the promise that he would use none +other than "Nuxine" dentifrice. + +Lord Ferriby and Joan, therefore, set out to The Hague, his lordship in +the full conviction (enjoyed by so many useless persons) that his +presence was in itself of beneficial effect upon the course of events, +and Joan with her "Nuxine" and, in a minor degree now, her +"Malgamiters" and her "Haberdashers' Assistants." Lady Ferriby +preferred to remain at Cambridge Terrace, chiefly because it was +cheaper, and also because the cook required a holiday, and, with a +kitchen-maid only, she could indulge in her greatest pleasure--a +useless economy. The cook refused to starve her fellow-servants, while +the kitchen-maid, mindful of a written character in the future, did as +her ladyship bade her--hashing and mincing in a manner quite +irreconcilable with forty pounds a year and beer money. + +Major White met the travellers at The Hague station, and Joan, who had +had some trouble with her father during the simple journey, was +conscious for the first time of a sense of orderliness and rest in the +presence of the stout soldier, who seemed to walk heavily over +difficulties when they arose. + +"Eh--er," began his lordship, as they walked down the platform, "have +you seen anything of Roden?" + +For Lord Ferriby was too self-centred a man to b keenly observant, and +had as yet failed to detect Von Holzen behind and overshadowing his +partner in the Malgamite scheme. + +"No--cannot say I have," replied the major. + +He had never discussed the malgamite affairs with Lord Ferriby. +Discussion was, indeed, a pastime in which the major never indulged. +His position in the matter was clearly enough defined, but he had no +intention of explaining why it was that he ranged himself stolidly on +Cornish's side in the differences that had arisen. + +Lord Ferriby was dimly conscious of a smouldering antagonism, but knew +the major sufficiently well not to fear an outbreak of hostilities. Men +who will face opposition may be divided into two classes--the one +taking its stand upon a conscious rectitude, the other half-hiding with +the cheap and transparent cunning of the ostrich. Many men, also, are +in the fortunate condition of believing themselves to be invariably +right unless they are told quite plainly that they are wrong. And there +was nobody to tell Lord Ferriby this. Cornish, with a sort of respect +for the head of the family--a regard for the office irrespective of its +holder--was so far from wishing to convince his uncle of error that he +voluntarily relinquished certain strong points in his position rather +than strike a blow that would inevitably reach Lord Ferriby, though +directed towards Roden or Von Holzen. + +Lord Ferriby heard, however, with some uneasiness, that the Wades were +in The Hague. + +"A worthy man--a very worthy man," he said abstractedly; for he looked +upon the banker with that dim suspicion which is aroused in certain +minds by uncompromising honesty. + +The travellers proceeded to the hotel, where rooms had been prepared +for them. There were flowers in Joan's room, which her maid said she +had rearranged, so awkwardly had they been placed in the vase. The +Wades, it appeared, were out, and had announced their intention of not +returning to lunch. They were, the hotel porter thought, to take that +meal at Mrs. Vansittart's. + +"I think," said Lord Ferriby, "that I shall go down to the works." + +"Yes, do," answered White, with an expressionless countenance. + +"Perhaps you will accompany me?" suggested Joan's father. + +"No--think not. Can't hit it off with Roden. Perhaps Joan would like to +see the Palace in the Wood." + +Joan thought that it was her duty to go to the malgamite works, and +murmured the word "Nuxine," without, however, much enthusiasm; but +White happened to remember that it was mixing-day. So Lord Ferriby went +off alone in a hired carriage, as had been his intention from the +first; for White knew even less about the ethics of commerce than did +Cornish. + +The account of affairs that awaited his lordship at the works was, no +doubt, satisfactory enough, for the manufacture of malgamite had been +proceeding at high pressure night and day. Von Holzen had, as he told +Marguerite, been poor all his life, and poverty is a hard task-master. +He was not going to be poor again. The grey carts had been passing up +and down Park Straat more often than ever, taking their loads to one or +other of the railway stations, and bringing, as they passed her house, +a gleam of anger to Mrs. Vansittart's eyes. + +"The scoundrels!" she muttered. "The scoundrels! Why does not Tony +act?" + +But Tony Cornish, who alone knew the full extent of Von Holzen's +determination not to be frustrated, could not act--for Dorothy's sake. + +A string of the quiet grey carts passed up Park Straat when the party +assembled there had risen from the luncheon-table. Mrs. Vansittart and +Mr. Wade were standing together at the window, which was large even in +this city of large and spotless windows. Dorothy and Cornish were +talking together at the other end of the room, and Marguerite was +supposed to be looking at a book of photographs. + +"There goes a consignment of men's lives," said Mrs. Vansittart to her +companion. + +"A human life, madam," answered the banker, "like all else on earth, +varies much in value." For Mr. Wade belonged to that class of +Englishmen which has a horror of all sentiment, and takes care to cloak +its good actions by the assumption of an unworthy motive. And who shall +say that this man of business was wrong in his statement? Which of us +has not a few friends and relations who can only have been created as a +solemn warning? + +As Mrs. Vansittart and Mr. Wade stood at the window, Marguerite joined +them, slipping her hand within her father's arm with that air of +protection which she usually assumed towards him. She was gay and +lively, as she ever was, and Mrs. Vansittart glanced at her more than +once with a sort of envy. Mrs. Vansittart did not, in truth, always +understand Marguerite or her English, which was essentially modern. + +They were standing and laughing at the window, when Marguerite suddenly +drew them back. + +"What is it?" asked Mrs. Vansittart. + +"It is Lord Ferriby," replied Marguerite. + +And looking cautiously between the lace curtains, they saw the great +man drive past in his hired carriage. "He has recently bought Park +Straat," commented Marguerite. + +And his lordship's condescending air certainly seemed to suggest that +the street, if not the whole city, belonged to him. + +Mr. Wade pointed with his thick thumb in the direction in which Lord +Ferriby was driving. + +"Where is he going?" he asked bluntly. + +"To the malgamite works," replied Mrs. Vansittart, with significance. +And Mr. Wade made no comment. Mrs. Vansittart spoke first. + +"I asked Major White," she said, "to lunch with us to-day, but he was +pledged, it appeared, to meet Lord Ferriby and his daughter, and see +them installed at their hotel." + +"Ah!" said Mr. Wade. + +Mrs. Vansittart, who in truth seemed to find the banker rather heavy, +allowed some moments to elapse before she again spoke. + +"Major White," she then observed, "does not accompany Lord Ferriby to +the malgamite works." + +"Major White," replied Marguerite, demurely, "has other fish to fry." + + + + +CHAPTER XXV. + +CLEARING THE AIR + +"It is as difficult to be entirely bad as it is to be entirely good." + + +Percy Roden, who had been to Utrecht and Antwerp, arrived home on the +evening of the day that saw Lord Ferriby's advent to The Hague. Though +the day had been fine enough, the weather broke up at sunset, and great +clouds chased the sun towards the west. Then the rain came suddenly and +swept across the plains in a slanting fury. A cold wind from the +south-east followed hard upon the heavy clouds, and night came in a +chaos of squall and beating rain. Roden was drenched in his passage +from the carriage to the Villa des Dunes, which, being a summer +residence, had not been provided with a carriage-drive across the dunes +from the road. He looked at his sister with tired eyes when she met him +in the entrance-hall. He was worn and thinner than she had seen him in +the days of his adversity, for Percy Roden, like his partner, had made +several false starts upon the road to fortune before he got well away. +Like many--like, indeed, nearly all--who have to try again, he had +lightened himself of a scruple or so each time he turned back. +Prosperity, however, seems to kill as many as adversity. Abundant +wealth is a vexation of spirit to-day as surely as it was in the time +of that wise man who, having tried it, said that a stranger eateth it, +and it is vanity. + +"Beastly night," said Roden, and that was all. He had been to Antwerp +on banking business, and had that sleepless look which brings a glitter +to the eyes. This was a man handling great sums of money. "Von Holzen +been here to-day?" he asked, when he had changed his clothes, and they +were seated at the dinner-table. + +"No," answered Dorothy, with her eyes on his plate. + +He was eating little, and drank only mineral water from a stone bottle. +He was like an athlete in training, though the strain he sought to meet +was mental and not physical. He shivered more than once, and glanced +sharply at the door when the maid happened to leave it open. + +When Dorothy went to the drawing-room she lighted the fire, which was +ready laid, and of wood. Although it was nearly midsummer, the air was +chilly, and the rain beat against the thin walls of the house. + +"I think it probable," Roden had said, before she left the dining-room, +"that Von Holzen will come in this evening." + +She sat down before the fire, which burnt briskly, and looked into it +with thoughtful, clever grey eyes. Percy thought it probable that Von +Holzen would come to the Villa des Dunes this evening. Would he come? +For Percy knew nothing of the organized attempt on Cornish's life which +she herself had frustrated. He seemed to know nothing of the grim and +silent antagonism that existed between the two men, shutting his eyes +to their movements, which were like the movements of chess-players that +the onlooker sees but does not understand. Dorothy knew that Von Holzen +was infinitely cleverer than her brother. She knew, indeed, that he was +cleverer than most men. With the quickness of her sex, she had long ago +divined the source and basis of his strength. He was indifferent to +women--who formed no part of his life, who entered in no way into his +plans or ambitions. Being a woman, she should, theoretically, have +disliked and despised him for this. As a matter of fact, the +characteristic commanded her respect. + +She knew that her brother was not in Von Holzen's confidence. It was +probable that no man on earth had ever come within measurable distance +of that. He would, in all likelihood, hear nothing of the attempt to +kill Cornish, and Cornish himself would be the last to mention it. For +she knew that her lover was a match for Von Holzen, and more than a +match. She had never doubted that. It was a part of her creed. A woman +never really loves a man until she has made him the object of a creed. +And it is only the man himself who can--and in the long run usually +does--make it impossible for her to adhere to her belief. + +She was still sitting and thinking over the fire when her brother came +into the room. + +"Ah!" he said at the sight of the fire, and came forward, holding out +his hands to the blaze. He looked down at his sister with glittering +and unsteady eyes. He was in a dangerous humour--a humour for +explanations and admissions--to which weak natures sometimes give way. +And, looking at the matter practically and calmly, explanations and +admissions are better left--to the hereafter. But Von Holzen saved him +by ringing the front-door bell at that moment. + +The professor came into the room a minute later. He stood in the +doorway, and bowed in the stiff German way to Dorothy. With Roden he +exchanged a curt nod. His hair was glued to his temples by the rain, +which gleamed on his face. + +"It is an abominable night," he said, coming forward. "Ach, Fraeulein, +please do not leave us--and the fire," he added; for Dorothy had risen. +"I merely came to make sure that he had arrived safely home." He took +the chair offered to him by Roden, and sat on it without bringing it +forward. He had but little of that self-assurance which is so highly +cultivated to-day as to be almost offensive. "There are, of course, +matters of business," he said, "which can wait till to-morrow. +To-night you are tired." He looked at Roden as a doctor may look at a +patient. "Is it not so, Fraeulein?" he asked, turning to Dorothy. + +"Yes." + +"Except one or two--which we may discuss now." + +Dorothy turned and glanced at him. He was looking at her, and their +eyes met for a moment. He seemed to see something in her face that made +him thoughtful, for he remained silent for some time, while he wiped +the rain from his face with his pocket-handkerchief. It was a pale, +determined face, which could hardly fail to impress those with whom he +came in contact as the face of a strong man. + +"Lord Ferriby has been at the works to-day," he said; and then, with a +gesture of the hands and a shrug, he described Lord Ferriby as a +nonentity. "He went through the works, and looked over your books. I +wrote out a sort of certificate of his satisfaction with both, and--he +signed it." + +Roden was leaning forward over the fire with a cigarette between his +lips. He nodded shortly. "Good," he said. + +"Yesterday," continued Von Holzen, "I met an old acquaintance--a Miss +Wade--one of the young ladies of a Pensionnat at Dresden, in which I +taught at one time. She is a daughter of the banker Wade, and told me, +reluctantly, that she is at The Hague with her father--a friend of +Cornish's. This morning I took a walk on the sands at Scheveningen; +there was a large fat man, among others, bathing at the Northern +bathing-station. It was Major White. It is a regular gathering of the +clans. I saw a German paper-maker--a big man in the trade--on the +Kursaal terrace this morning. It may be a mere chance, and it may not." + +As he spoke he had withdrawn from his pocket a folded paper, which he +was fingering thoughtfully. Dorothy, who knew that she had by her looks +unwittingly warned him, made no motion to go now. He would say nothing +that he did not deliberately intend for her ears as much as for her +brother's. Von Holzen opened the paper slowly, and looked at it as if +every line of it was familiar. It was a sheet of ordinary foolscap +covered with minute figures and writing. + +"It is the Vorschrift, the--how do you say?--prescription for the +malgamite, and there are several in The Hague at this moment who want +it, and some who would not be too scrupulous in their methods of +procuring it. It is for this that they are gathering--here in The +Hague." + +Roden turned in his leisurely way, and looked over his shoulder towards +the paper. Von Holzen glanced at Dorothy. He had no desire to keep her +in suspense, but he wished to know how much she knew. She looked into +the fire, treating his conversation as directed towards her brother +only. + +"I tried for ten years in vain to get this," continued Von Holzen, "and +at last a dying man dictated it to me. For years it lived in the brain +of one man only--and he a maker of it himself. He might have died at +any moment with that secret in his head. And I,"--he folded the paper +slowly and shrugged his shoulders--"I watched him. And the last +intelligible word he spoke on earth was the last word of this +prescription. The man can have been no fool; for he was a man of little +education. I never respected him so much as I do now when I have learnt +it myself." He rose and walked to the fire. "You permit me, Fraeulein," +he said, putting the logs together with his foot. + +They burnt up brightly, and he threw the paper upon them. In a moment +it was reduced to ashes. He turned slowly upon his heel, and looked at +his companions with the grave smile of one who had never known much +mirth. + +"There," he said, touching his forehead, with one finger; "it is in +the brain of one man--once more." He returned to the chair he had just +vacated. "And whosoever wishes to stop the manufacture of malgamite +will need to stop that brain," he said, with a soft laugh. "Of course +there is a risk attached to burning that paper," he continued, after a +pause. "My brain may go--a little clot of blood no bigger than a pin's +head, and the greatest brain on earth is so much pulp! It may be worth +some one's while to kill me. It is so often worth some one's while to +kill somebody else, even at a considerable risk--but the courage is +nearly always lacking. However, we must run these risks." + +He rose from his chair with a low and rather pleasant laugh, glancing +at the clock as he did so. It was evidently his intention to take his +leave. Dorothy rose also, and they stood for a moment facing each +other. He was a few inches above her stature, and he looked down at her +with his slow, thoughtful eyes. He seemed always to be making a +diagnosis of the souls of men. + +"I know, Fraeulein," he said, "That you are one of those who dislike me, +and seek to do me harm. I am sorry. It is long since I discarded a +youthful belief that it was possible to get on in life without arousing +ill feeling. Believe me, it is impossible even to hold one's own in +this world without making enemies. There are two sides to every +question, Fraeulein--remember that." + +He brought his heels together, bowed stiffly, from the waist, in his +formal manner, and left the room. Percy Roden followed him, leaving the +door open. Dorothy heard the rustle of his dripping waterproof as he +put it on, the click of the door, the sound of his firm retreating +tread on the gravel. Then her brother came back into the room. His +rather weak face was flushed. His eyes were unsteady. Dorothy saw this +in a glance, and her own face hardened unresponsively. The situation +was clearly enough defined in her own mind. Von Holzen had destroyed +the prescription before her on purpose. It was only a move in that game +of life which is always extending to a new deal, and of which women as +onlookers necessarily see the most. Von Holzen wished Cornish, and +others concerned, to know that he had destroyed the prescription. It +was a concession in disguise--a retrograde movement--perhaps _pour +mieux sauter_. + +Percy Roden was one of those men who have a grudge against the world. +The most hopeless ill-doer is he who excuses himself angrily. There are +some who seem unconscious of their own failings, and for these there is +hope. They may some day find out that it is better to be at peace with +the world even at the cost of a little self-denial. But Percy Roden +admitted that he was wrong, and always had that sort of excuse which +seeks to lay the blame upon a whole class--upon other business men, upon +those in authority, upon women. + +"It is excused in others, why not in me?"--the last cry of the +ne'er-do-well. + +He glanced angrily at Dorothy now. But he was always half afraid of +her. + +"I wish we had never come to this place," he said. + +"Then let us go away from it," answered Dorothy, "before it is too +late." + +Roden looked at her in surprise. Did she expect him to go away now from +Mrs. Vansittart? He knew, of course, that Dorothy and the world always +expected too much from him. + +"Before it is too late. What do you mean?" he asked, still thinking of +Mrs. Vansittart. + +"Before the Malgamite scheme is exposed," replied Dorothy, bluntly. +And, to her surprise, he laughed. + +"I thought you meant something else," he said. "The Malgamite scheme +can look after itself. Von Holzen is the cleverest man I know, and he +knows what he is doing. I thought you meant Mrs. Vansittart--were +thinking of her." + +"No, I was not thinking of Mrs. Vansittart." + +"Not worth thinking about," suggested Roden, adhering to his method of +laughing for fear of being laughed at, which is common enough in very +young men; but Roden should have outgrown it by this time. + +"Not seriously." + +"What do you mean, Dorothy?" + +"That I hope you do not think seriously of asking Mrs. Vansittart to +marry you." + +Roden gave his rather unpleasant laugh again. "It happens that I do," +he replied. "And it happens that I know that Mrs. Vansittart never +stays in The Hague in summer when all the houses are empty and +everybody is away, and the place is given up to tourists, and becomes a +mere annex to Scheveningen. This year she has stayed--why, I should +like to know." + +And he stroked his moustache as he looked into the fire. He had been +indulging in the vain pleasure of putting two and two together. A young +man's vanity--or indeed any man's vanity--is not to be trusted to work +out that simple addition correctly. Percy Roden was still in a +dangerously exalted frame of mind. There is no intoxication so +dangerous as that of success, and none that leaves so bitter a taste +behind it. + +"Of course," he said, "no girl ever thinks that her brother can succeed +in such a case. I suppose you dislike Mrs. Vansittart?" + +"No; I like her, and I understand her, perhaps better than you do. I +should like nothing better than that she should marry you, but----" + +"But what?" + +"Well, ask her," replied Dorothy--a woman's answer. + +"And then?" + +"And then let us go away from here." + +Roden turned on her angrily. "Why do you keep on repeating that?" he +cried. "Why do you want to go away from here?" + +"Because," replied Dorothy, as angry as himself, "you know as well as I +do that the Malgamite scheme is not what it pretends to be. I suppose +you are making a fortune and are dazzled, or else you are being +deceived by Herr von Holzen, or else----" + +"Or else----" echoed Roden, with a pale face. "Yes--go on." But she bit +her lip and was silent. "It is an open secret," she went on after a +pause. "Everybody knows that it is a disgrace or worse--perhaps a +crime. If you have made a fortune, be content with what you have made, +and clear yourself of the whole affair." + +"Not I." + +"Why not?" + +"Because I am going to make more. And I am going to marry Mrs. +Vansittart. It is only a question of money. It always is with women. +And not one in a hundred cares how the money is made." + +Which, of course, is not true; for no woman likes to see her husband's +name on a biscuit or a jam-pot. + +"Of course," went on Percy, in his anger. "I know which side you take, +since you are talking of open secrets. At any rate, Von Holzen knows +yours--if it is a secret--for he has hinted at it more than once. +You think that it is I who have been deceived or who deceive myself. +You are just as likely to be wrong. You place your whole faith in +Cornish. You think that Cornish cannot do wrong." + +Dorothy turned and looked at him. Her eyes were steady, but the color +left her face, as if she were afraid of what she was about to say. + +"Yes," she said. "I do." + +"And without a moment's hesitation," went on Roden, hurriedly, "you +would sacrifice everything for the sake of a man you had never seen six +months ago?" + +"Yes." + +"Even your own brother?" + +"Yes," answered Dorothy. + + + + +CHAPTER XXVI. + +THE ULTIMATUM. + +"Le plus grand, le plus fort et le plus adroit surtout, est celui qui +sait attendre." + + +"If you think that Herr von Holzen is a philanthropist, my dear," said +Marguerite Wade, sententiously, "that is exactly where your toes turn +in." + +She addressed this remark to Joan Ferriby, whose eyes were certainly +veiled by that cloak of charity which the kind-hearted are ever ready +to throw over the sins of others. The two girls were sitting in the +quiet old-world garden of the hotel, beneath the shade of tall trees, +within the peaceful sound of the cooing doves on the tiled roof. Major +White was sitting within earshot, looking bulky and solemn in his light +tweed suit and felt hat. The major had given up appearances long ago, +but no man surpassed him in cleanliness and that well-groomed air which +distinguishes men of his cloth. He was reading a newspaper, and from +time to time glanced at his companions, more especially, perhaps, at +Joan. + +"Major White," said Marguerite. +"Yes." + +"Greengage, please." + +The greengages were on a table at the major's elbow, having been placed +there at Marguerite's command by the waiter who attended them at +breakfast. White made ready to pass the dish. + +"Fingers," said Marguerite. "Heave one over." + +White selected one with an air of solemn resignation. Marguerite caught +the greengage as neatly as it was thrown. + +"What do you think of Herr von Holzen?" she asked. + +"To think," replied the Major, "certain requisites are necessary." + +"Um--m." + +"I do not know Herr von Holzen, and I have nothing to think with," he +explained gravely. + +"Well, you soon will know him, and I dare say if you tried you would +find that you are not so stupid as you pretend to be. You are going +down to the works this morning with Papa and Tony Cornish. I know that, +because papa told me." + +The Major looked at her with his air of philosophic surprise. She held +up her hand for a catch, and with resignation he threw her another +greengage. + +"Tony is going to call for you in a carriage at ten o'clock, and you +three old gentlemen are going to drive in an open barouche with cigars, +like a bean feast, to the malgamite works." + +"The description is fairly accurate," admitted Major White, without +looking up from his paper. + +"And I imagine you are going to raise--Hail Columbia!" + +He looked at her severely through his glass, and said nothing. She +nodded in a friendly and encouraging manner, as if to intimate that he +had her entire approval. + +"Take my word for it," she continued, turning to Joan, "Herr von Holzen +is a shady customer. I know a shady customer when I see him. I never +thought much of the malgamite business, you know, but unfortunately +nobody asked my opinion on the matter. I wonder----" She paused, +looking thoughtfully at Major White, who presently met her glance with +a stolid stare. "Of course!" she said, in a final voice. "I forgot. +You never think. You can't. Oh no!" + +"It is so easy to misjudge people," pleaded Joan, earnestly. + +"It is much easier to see right through them, straight off, in the +twinkling of a bedpost," asserted Marguerite. "You will see, Herr von +Holzen is wrong and Tony is right. And Tony will smash him up. +You will see. Tony"--she paused, and looked up at the roof where the +doves were cooing--"Tony knows his way about." + +Major White rose and laid aside his paper. Mr. Wade was coming down the +iron steps that led from the verandah to the garden. The banker was +cutting a cigar, and wore a placid, comfortable look, as if he had +breakfasted well. Even as regards kidneys and bacon in a foreign hotel, +where there is a will there is a way, and Marguerite possessed tongues. +"I'll turn this place inside out," she had said, "to get the old thing +what he wants." Then she attacked the waiter in fluent German. + +Marguerite noted his approach with a protecting eye. "It's all solid +common sense," she said in an undertone to Joan, referring, it would +appear, to his bulk. + +In only one respect was she misinformed as to the arrangements for the +morning. Tony Cornish was not coming to the hotel to fetch Mr. Wade and +White, but was to meet them in the shadiest of all thoroughfares and +green canals, the Koninginne Gracht, where at midday the shadows cast +by the great trees are so deep that daylight scarcely penetrates, and +the boats creep to and fro like shadows. This amendment had been made +in view of the fact that Lord Ferriby was in the hotel, and was, +indeed, at this moment partaking of a solemn breakfast in his private +sitting-room overlooking the Toornoifeld. + +His lordship did not, therefore, see these two solid pillars of the +British constitution walk across the corner of the Korte Voorhout, +cigar in lip, in a placid silence begotten, perhaps, of the knowledge +that, should an emergency arise, they were of a material that would +arise to meet it. + +Cornish was awaiting them by the bank of the canal. He was watching a +boat slowly work its way past him. It was one of the large boats built +for traffic on the greater canals and the open waters of the Scheldt +estuary. It was laden from end to end with little square boxes bearing +only a number and a port mark in black stencil. A pleasant odor of +sealing-wax dominated the weedy smell of the canal. + +"Wherever you turn you meet the stuff," was Cornish's greeting to the +two Englishmen. + +Major White, with his delicate sense of smell, sniffed the breeze. Mr. +Wade looked at the canal-boat with a nod. Commercial enterprise, and, +above all, commercial success, commanded his honest respect. + +They entered the carriage awaiting them beneath the trees. Cornish was, +as usual, quick and eager, a different type from his companions, who +were not brilliant as he was, nor polished. + +They found the gates of the malgamite works shut, but the door-keeper, +knowing Cornish to be a person of authority, threw them open and +directed the driver to wait outside till the gentlemen should return. +The works were quiet and every door was closed. + +"Is it mixing-day?" asked Cornish. + +"Every day is mixing-day now, mein Herr, and there are some who work +all night as well. If the gentlemen will wait a moment, I will seek +Herr Roden." + +And he left them standing beneath the brilliant sun in the open space +between the gate and the cottage where Von Holzen lived. In a few +moments he returned, accompanied by Percy Roden, who emerged from the +office in his shirt-sleeves, pen in hand. He shook hands with Cornish +and White, glanced at Mr. Wade, and half bowed. He did not seem glad to +see them. + +"We want to look at your books," said Cornish. "I suppose you will make +no objection?" Roden bit his moustache and looked at the point of his +pen. + +"You and Major White?" he suggested. + +"And this gentleman, who comes as our financial advisor." + +Roden raised his eyebrows rather insolently. "Ah--may I ask who this +gentleman is?" he said. + +"My name is Wade," answered the banker, characteristically for himself. + +Roden's face changed, and he glanced at the great financier with a keen +interest. + +"I have no objection," he said after a moment's hesitation. "If Von +Holzen will agree. I will go and ask him." + +And they were left alone in the sunshine once more. Mr. Wade watched +Roden as he walked towards the factory. + +"Not the sort of man I expected," he commented. "But he has the right +shaped head for figures. He is shrewd enough to know that he cannot +refuse, so gives in with a good grace." + +In a few minutes Von Holzen approached them, emerging from the factory +alone. He bowed politely, but did not offer to shake hands. He had not +seen Cornish since the evening when he had offered to make malgamite +before him, and the experiment had taken such a deadly turn. He looked +at him now and found his glance returned by an illegible smile. The +question flashed through his mind and showed itself on his face as to +why Roden had made such a mistake as to introduce a man like this into +the Malgamite scheme. Von Holzen invited the gentlemen into the office. +"It is small, but it will accommodate us," he said, with a smile. + +He drew forward chairs, and offered one to Cornish in particular, with +a grim deference. He seemed to have divined that their last meeting in +this same office had been, by tacit understanding, kept a secret. +There is for some men a certain satisfaction in antagonism, and a stern +regard for a strong foe--which reached its culmination, perhaps, in +that Saxon knight who desired to be buried in the same chapel as his +lifelong foe--between him, indeed, and the door--so that at the +resurrection day they should not miss each other. + +Von Holzen seemed to have somewhat of this feeling for Cornish. He +offered him the best seat at the table. Roden was taking his books from +a safe--huge ledgers bound in green pigskin, slim cash-books, +cloth-bound journals. He named them as he laid them on the table before +Mr. Wade. Major White looked at the great tomes with solemn and silent +awe. Mr. Wade was already fingering his gold pencil-case. He eyed the +closed books with an anticipatory gleam of pleasure in his face--as a +commander may eye the arrayed squadrons of the foe. + +"It is, of course, understood that this audit is strictly in +confidence?" said Von Holzen. "For your own satisfaction, and not in +any sense for publication. It is a trade secret." + +"Of course," answered Cornish, to whom the question had been addressed. +"We trust to the honor of these gentlemen." + +Cornish looked up and met the speaker's grave eyes. +"Yes," he said. + +Roden, having emptied the large safe, leant his shoulder against the +iron mantelpiece and looked down at those seated at the +table--especially at Mr. Wade. His hands were in his pockets; his face +wore a careless smile. He had not resumed his coat, and the cleanliness +of the books testified to the fact that he always worked in +shirt-sleeves. It was a trick of the trade, which exonerated him from +the necessity of apologizing. + +Mr. Wade took the great ledgers, opened them, fluttered the pages with +his fingers, and set them aside one after the other. Then Roden seemed +to recollect something. He went to a drawer and took from it a packet +of neatly folded papers held together by elastic rings. The top one he +unfolded and laid on the table before Mr. Wade. + +"Trial balance-sheet of 31st of March," he said. + +Mr. Wade glanced up and down the closely written columns, which were +like copper-plate--an astounding mass of figures. The additions in the +final column ran to six numerals. The banker folded the paper and laid +it aside. Then, he turned to the slim cash-books, which he glanced at +casually. The journals he set aside without opening. He handled the +books with a sort of skill showing that he knew how to lift them with +the least exertion, how to open them and close them and turn their +stiff pages. The enormous mass of figures did not seem to appal him; +the maze was straight enough beneath such skillful eyes. Finally, he +turned to a small locked ledger, of which the key was attached to +Roden's watch-chain, who came forward and unlocked the book. Mr. Wade +turned to the index at the beginning of the volume, found a certain +account, and opened the book there. At the sight of the figures he +raised his eyebrow and glanced up at Roden. + +"Whew!" he exclaimed, beneath his breath. He had arrived at his +destination--had torn the heart out of these great books. All in the +room were watching his placid, shrewd old face. He studied the books +for some time and then took a sheet of blank paper from a number of +such attached by a string to a corner of the table. He reflected for +some minutes, pushing the movable part of his gold pencil in and out +pensively as he did so. Then he wrote a number of figures on the sheet +of paper and handed it to Cornish. He closed the locked ledger with a +snap. The audit of the malgamite books was over. + +"It is a wonderful piece of single-handed bookkeeping," he said to +Roden. + +Cornish was studying the paper set before him by the banker. The +proceedings seemed to have been prearranged, for no word was exchanged. +There was no consultation on either side. Finally, Cornish folded the +paper and tore it into a hundred pieces in scrupulous adherence to Von +Holzen's conditions. Mr. Wade was sitting back in his chair +thoughtfully amusing himself with his gold pencil-case. Cornish looked +at him for a moment, and then spoke, addressing Von Holzen. + +"We came here to make a final proposal to you," he said; "to place +before you, in fact, our ultimatum. We do not pretend to conceal from +you the fact that we are anxious to avoid all publicity, all scandal. +But if you drive us to it, we shall unhesitatingly face both in order +to close these works. We do not want the Malgamite scheme to be dragged +as a charity in the mud, because it will inevitably drag other +charities with it. There are certain names connected with the scheme +which we should prefer; moreover, to keep from the clutches of the +cheaper democratic newspapers. We know the weakness of our position. + +"And we know the strength of ours," put in Von Holzen, quietly. + +"Yes. We recognize that also. You have hitherto slipped in between +international laws, and between the laws of men. Legally, we should +have difficulty in getting at you, but it can be done. Financially----" +He paused, and looked at Mr. Wade. + +"Financially," said the banker, without lifting his eyes from his +pencil case, "we shall in the long run inevitably smash you--though the +books are all right." + +Roden smiled, with his long white fingers at his moustache. + +"From the figures supplied to me by Mr. Wade," continued Cornish, "I +see that there is an enormous profit lying idle--so large a profit that +even between ourselves it is better not mentioned. There are, or there +were yesterday, two hundred and ninety-two malgamite makers in active +work." + +Von Holzen made an involuntary movement, and Cornish looked at him over +the pile of books. "Oh!" he said, "I know that. And I know the number +of deaths. Perhaps you have not kept count, but I have. From the +figures supplied by Mr. Wade, I see, therefore, that we have sufficient +to pension off these two hundred and ninety-two men and their +families--giving each man one hundred and twenty pounds a year. We can +also make provision for the widows and orphans out of the sum I propose +to withdraw from the profits. There will then be left a sum +representing two large fortunes--of say between three and four thousand +a year each. Will you and Mr. Roden accept this sum, dividing it as you +think fit, and hand over the works to me? We ask, you to take it--no +questions asked, and go." + +"And Lord Ferriby?" suggested Von Holzen. + +Major White made a sudden movement, but Cornish laid his hand quickly +upon the soldier's arm. + +"I will manage Lord Ferriby. What is your answer?" + +"No," replied Von Holzen, instantly, as if he had long known what the +ultimatum would be. + +Cornish turned interrogatively to Roden. His eyes urged Roden to +accept. + +"No," was the reply. + +Mr. Wade took out his large gold watch and looked at it. + +"Then there is no need," he said composedly, "to detain these gentlemen +any longer." + + + + +CHAPTER XXVII. + +COMMERCE. + +"The world will not believe a man repents. +And this wise world of ours is mainly right." + + +"Then you are of opinion, my dear White, that one cannot well refuse to +meet these--er--persons?" + +"Not," replied Major White to Lord Ferriby, whose hand rested on his +stout arm as they walked with dignity in the shade of the trees that +border the Vyver--that quaint old fish-pond of The Hague--"not without +running the risk of being called a d----d swindler." + +For the major was a lamentably plain-spoken man, who said but little, +and said that little strong. Lord Ferriby's affectionate grasp of the +soldier's arm relaxed imperceptibly. One must, he reflected, be +prepared to meet unpleasantness in the good cause of charity--but there +are words hardly applicable to the peerage, and Major White had made +use of one of these. + +"Public opinion," observed the major, after some minutes of deep +thought, "is a difficult thing to deal with--'cos you cannot thump the +public." + +"It is notably hard," said his lordship, firing off one of his pet +platform platitudes, "to induce the public to form a correct estimate, +or what one takes to be a correct estimate." + +"Especially of one's self," added the major, looking across the water +towards the Binnenhof in his vacant way. + +Then they turned and walked back again beneath the heavy shade of the +trees. The conversation, and indeed this dignified promenade on the +Vyverberg, had been brought about by a letter which his lordship had +received that same morning inviting him to attend a meeting of +paper-makers and others interested in the malgamite trade to consider +the position of the malgamite charity, and the advisability of taking +legal proceedings to close the works on the dunes at Scheveningen. The +meeting was to be held at the Hotel des Indes, at three in the +afternoon, and the conveners hinted pretty plainly that the proceedings +would be of a decisive nature. The letter left Lord Ferriby with a +vague feeling of discomfort. His position was somewhat isolated. A +coldness had for some time been in existence between himself and his +nephew, Tony Cornish. Of Mr. Wade, Lord Ferriby was slightly +distrustful. + +"These commercial men," he often said, "are apt to hold such narrow +views." + +And, indeed, to steer a straight course through life, one must not look +to one side or the other. + +There remained Major White, of whom Lord Ferriby had thought more +highly since Fortune had called this plain soldier to take a seat among +the gods of the British public. For no man is proof against the +satisfaction of being able to call a celebrated person by his Christian +name. The major had long admired Joan, in his stupid way from, as one +might say, the other side of the room. But neither Lord nor Lady +Ferriby had encouraged this silent suit. Joan was theoretically one of +those of whom it is said that "she might marry anybody," and who, as +the keen observer may see for himself, often finishes by failing to +marry at all. She was pretty and popular, and had, moreover, the +_entree_ to the best houses. White had been useful to Lord Ferriby ever +since the inauguration of the Malgamite scheme. He was not +uncomfortably clever, like Tony Cornish. He was an excellent buffer at +jarring periods. Since the arrival of Joan and her father at The Hague, +the major had been almost a necessity in their daily life, and now, +quite suddenly, Lord Ferriby found that this was the only person to +whom he could turn for advice or support. + +"One cannot suppose," he said, in the full conviction that words will +meet any emergency--"One cannot suppose that Von Holzen will act in +direct opposition to the voice of the majority." + +"Von Holzen," replied the major, "plays a doocid good game." + +After luncheon they walked across the Toornoifeld to the Hotel des +Indes, and there, in a small _salon_, found a number of gentlemen +seated round a table. Mr. Wade was conspicuous by his absence. They +had, indeed, left him in the hotel garden, sitting at the consumption +of an excellent cigar. + +"Join the jocund dance?" the major had inquired, with a jerk of the +head towards the Hotel des Indes. But Mr. Wade was going for a drive +with Marguerite. + +Tony Cornish was, however, seated at the table, and the major +recognized two paper-makers whom he had seen before. One was an +aggressive, red-headed man, of square shoulders and a dogged +appearance, who had "radical" written all over him. The other was a +mild-mannered person, with a thin, ash-colored moustache. +The major nodded affably. He distinctly remembered offering to fight +these two gentlemen either together or one after the other on the +landing of the little malgamite office in Westminster. And there was a +faint twinkle behind the major's eyeglass as he saluted them. + +"Good morning, Thompson," he said. "How do, MacHewlett?" For he never +forgot a face or a name. + +"A'hm thinking----" Mr. MacHewlett was observing, but his thoughts died +a natural death at the sight of a real lord, and he rose and bowed. Mr. +Thompson remained seated and made that posture as aggressive and +obvious as possible. The remainder of the company were of varied +nationality and appearance, while one, a Frenchman of keen dark eyes +and a trim beard--seemed by tacit understanding to be the acknowledged +leader. Even the pushing Mr. Thompson silently deferred to him by a +gesture that served at once to introduce Lord Ferriby and invite the +Frenchman to up and smite him. + +Lord Ferriby took the seat that had been left vacant for him at the +head of the table. He looked around upon faces not too friendly. +"We were saying, my lord," said the Frenchman, in perfect English and +with that graceful tact which belongs to France alone, "that we have +all been the victims of an unfortunate chain of misunderstandings. +Had the organizers of this great charity consulted a few paper-makers +before inaugurating the works at Scheveningen, much unpleasantness + might have been averted, many lives might, alas, have been spared. +But--well--such mundane persons as ourselves were probably unknown to +you and unthought-of; the milk is spilt, is it not so? Let us rather +think of the future." + +Lord Ferriby bowed graciously, and Mr. Thompson moved impatiently on +his chair. The suave method had no attractions for him. + +"A'hm thinking," began Mr. MacHewlett, in his most plaintive voice, and +commanded so sudden and universal an attention as to be obviously +disconcerted, "his lordship'll need plainer speech than that," he +muttered hastily, and subsided, with an uneasy glance in the direction +of that man of action, Major White. + +"One misunderstanding has, however, been happily dispelled," said the +Frenchman, "by our friend--if monsieur will permit the word--our friend, +Mr. Cornish. From this gentleman we have learned that the executive of +the Malgamite Charity are not by any means in harmony with the +executive of the malgamite works at Scheveningen; that, indeed, the +charity repudiates the action of its servants in manufacturing +malgamite by a dangerous process tacitly and humanely set aside by +makers up to this time; that the administrators of the fund are no +party to the 'corner' which has been established in the product; do not +desire to secure a monopoly, and disapprove of the sale of malgamite at +a price which has already closed one or two of the smaller mills, and +is paralyzing the paper trade of the world." + +The speaker finished with a bow towards Cornish, and resumed his seat. +All were watching Lord Ferriby's face, except Major White, who examined +a quill pen with short-sighted absorption. Lord Ferriby looked across +the table at Cornish. + +"Lord Ferriby," said Cornish, without rising from his seat, and meeting +his uncle's glance steadily, "will now no doubt confirm all that +Monsieur Creil has said." + +Lord Ferriby had, in truth, come to the meeting with no such intention. +He had, with all his vast experience, no knowledge of a purely +commercial assembly such as this. His public had hitherto been a +drawing-room public. He was accustomed to a flower-decked platform, +from which to deliver his flowing periods to the emotional of both +sexes. There were no flowers in this room at the Hotel des Indes, and +the men before him were not of the emotional school. They were, on the +contrary, plain, hard-headed men of business, who had come from +different parts of the world at Cornish's bidding to meet a crisis in a +plain, hard-headed way. They had only thoughts of their balance-sheets, +and not of the fact that they held in the hollow of their hands the +lives of hundreds, nay, of thousands, of men, women, and children. +Monsieur Creil alone, the keen-eyed Frenchman, had absolute control of +over three thousand employees--married men with children--but he did not +think of mentioning the fact. And it is a weight to carry about with +one--to go to sleep with and to awake with in the morning--the charge +of, say, nine thousand human lives. + +For a few moments Lord Ferriby was silent. Cornish watched him across +the table. He knew that his uncle was no fool, although his wisdom +amounted to little more than the wisdom of the worldly. Would Lord +Ferriby recognize the situation in time? There was a wavering look in +the great man's eye that made his nephew suddenly anxious. Then Lord +Ferriby rose slowly, to make the shortest speech that he had ever made +in his life. + +"Gentlemen," he said, "I beg to confirm what has just been said." + +As he sat down again, Cornish gave a sharp sigh of relief. In a moment +Mr. Thompson was on his feet, his red face alight with democratic anger. + + +"This won't do," he cried. "Let's have done with palavering and talk. +Let's get to plain speaking." + +And it was not Lord Ferriby, but Tony Cornish, who rose to meet the +attack. + +"If you will sit down," he said, "and keep your temper, you shall have +plain speaking, and we can get to business. But if you do neither, I +shall turn you out of the room." + +"You?" + +"Yes," answered Tony. And something which Mr. Thompson did not +understand made him resume his seat in silence. The Frenchman smiled, +and took up his speech where he had left it. + +"Mr. Cornish," he said, "speaks with authority. We are, gentlemen, in +the hands of Mr. Cornish, and in good hands. He has this matter at the +tips of his fingers. He has devoted himself to it for many months past, +at considerable risk, as I suspect, to his own safety. We and the +thousands of employees whom we represent cannot do better than entrust +the situation to him, and give him a free hand. For once, capital and +labour have a common interest----" + +He was again interrupted by Mr. Thompson, who spoke more quietly now. + +"It seems to me," he said, "that we may well consider the past for a +few minutes before passing on to the future. There's more than a +million pounds profit, at the lowest reckoning, on the last few months' +manufacture. Question is, where is that profit? Is this a charity, or +is it not? Mr. Cornish is all very well in his way. But we're not +fools. We're men of business, and as such can only presume that Mr. +Cornish, like the rest of 'em, has had his share. Question is, where +are the profits?" + +Major White rose slowly. He was seated beside Mr. Thompson, and, +standing up, towered above him. He looked down at the irate red face +with a calm and wondering eye. + +"Question is," he said gravely, "where the deuce you will be in a few +minutes if you don't shut up." + +Whereupon Mr. Thompson once more resumed his seat. He had the +satisfaction, however, of perceiving that his shaft had reached its +mark; for Lord Ferriby looked disconcerted and angry. The chairman of +many charities looked, moreover, a little puzzled, as if the situation +was beyond his comprehension. The Frenchman's pleasant voice again +broke in, soothingly and yet authoritatively. + +"Mr. Cornish and a certain number of us have, for some time, been in +correspondence," he said. "It is unnecessary for me to suggest to my +present hearers that in dealing with a large industry--in handling, as +it were, the lives of a number of persons--it is impossible to proceed +too cautiously. One must look as far ahead as human foresight may +perceive--one must give grave and serious thought to every possible +outcome of action or inaction. Gentlemen, we have done our best. We +are now in a position to say to the administrators of the Malgamite +Fund, close your works and we will do the rest. And this means that we +shall provide for the survivors of this great commercial catastrophe, +that we shall care for the widows and children of the victims, that we +shall supply ourselves with malgamite of our own manufacture, produced +only by a process which is known to be harmless, that we shall make it +impossible that such a monopoly may again be declared. We have, so far +as lies in our power, provided for every emergency. We have approached +the two men who, from their retreat on the dunes of Scheveningen, have +swayed one of the large industries of the world. We have offered them a +fortune. We have tried threats and money, but we have failed to close +them but one alternative, and that is--war. We are prepared in every way. +We can to-morrow take over the manufacture of malgamite for the whole +world--but we must have the works on the dunes at Scheveningen. We must +have the absolute control of the Malgamite Fund and of the works. We +propose, gentlemen, to seize this control, and invest the supreme +command in the one man who is capable of exercising it--Mr. +Anthony Cornish." + +The Frenchman sat down, looked across the table, and shrugged his +shoulders impatiently; for the irrepressible Thompson was already on +his feet. It must be remembered that Mr. Thompson worked on commission, +and had been hard hit. + +"Then," he cried, pointing a shaking forefinger into Lord Ferriby's +face, "that man has no business to be sitting there. We're honest +here--if we're nothing else. We all know your history, my fine +gentleman; we know that you cannot wipe out the past, so you're trying +to whitewash it over with good works. That's an old trick, and it won't +go down here. Do you think we don't see through you and your palavering +speeches? Why have you refused to take action against Roden and Von +Holzen? Because they've paid you. Look at him, gentlemen! He has taken +money from those men at Scheveningen--blood money. He has had his +share. I propose that Lord Ferriby explains his position." + +Mr. Thompson banged his fist on the table, and at the same moment sat +down with extreme precipitation, urged thereto by Major White's hand on +his collar. + +"This is not a vestry meeting," said the major, sternly. + +Lord Ferriby had risen to his feet. "My position, gentlemen," he began, +and then faltered, with his hand at his watch-chain. "My position----" +He stopped with a gulp. His face was the colour of ashes. He turned in +a dazed way towards his nephew; for at the beginning and the end of +life blood is thicker than water. "Anthony," said his lordship, and sat +down heavily. + +All rose to their feet in confusion. Major White seemed somehow to be +quicker than the rest, and caught Lord Ferriby in his arms--but Lord +Ferriby was dead. + + + + +CHAPTER XXVIII. + +WITH CARE. + +"Some man holdeth his tongue, because he hath not to answer: and +some keepeth silence, knowing his time." + + +Those who live for themselves alone must at least have the consolatory +thought that when they die the world will soon console itself. For it +has been decreed that he who takes no heed of others shall himself be +taken no heed of. We soon learn to do without those who are indifferent +to us and useless to us. Lord Ferriby had so long and so carefully +studied the _culte_ of self that even those nearest to him had ceased +to give him any thought, knowing that in his own he was in excellent +hands--that he would always ask for what he wanted. It was Lord +Ferriby's business to make the discovery (which all selfish people must +sooner or later achieve) that the best things in this world are +precisely those which may not be given on demand, and for which, +indeed, one may in nowise ask. + +When Major White and Cornish were left alone in the private _salon_ of +the Hotel des Indes--when the doctor had come and gone, when the blinds +had been decently lowered, and the great man silently laid upon the +sofa--they looked at each other without speaking. The grimmest silence +is surely that which arises from the thought that of the dead one may +only say what is good. + +"Would you like me," said Cornish, "to go across and tell Joan?" + +And Major White, whose god was discipline, replied, "She's your cousin. +It is for you to say." + +"I shall be glad if you will go," said Cornish, "and leave me to make +the other arrangements. Take her home tomorrow, or tonight if she wants +to, and leave us--me--to follow." + +So Major White quitted the Hotel des Indes, and walked slowly down the +length of the Toornoifeld, leaving Cornish alone with Lord Ferriby, +whose death made his nephew suddenly a richer man. + +The Wades had gone out for a drive in the wood. Major White knew that +he would find Joan alone at the hotel. Bad news has a strange trick of +clearing the way before it. The major went to the _salon_ on the ground +floor overlooking the corner of the Vyverberg. Joan was writing a +letter at the window. + +"Ah!" she said, turning, pen in hand, "you are soon back. Have you +quarrelled?" + +White went stolidly across the room towards her. There was a chair by +the writing-table, and here he sat down. Joan was looking uneasily into +his face. Perhaps she saw more in that immovable countenance than the +world was pleased to perceive. + +"Your father was taken suddenly ill," he said, "during the meeting." +Joan half rose from her chair, but the major laid his protecting hand +over hers. It was a large, quiet hand--like himself, somewhat suggestive +of a buffer. And it may, after all, be no mean _role_ to act as a +buffer between one woman and the world all one's life. + +"You can do nothing," said White. "Tony is with him." + +Joan looked into his face in speechless inquiry. + +"Yes," he answered, "your father is dead." + +Then he sat there in a silence which may have been intensely stupid or +very wise. For silence is usually cleverer than speech, and always more +interesting. Joan was dry-eyed. Well may the children of the selfish +arise and bless their parents for (albeit unwittingly) alleviating one +of the necessary sorrows of life. + +After a silence, Major White told Joan how the calamity had occurred, +in a curt military way, as of one who had rubbed shoulders with death +before, who had gone out, moreover, to meet him with a quiet mind, and +had told others of the dealings of the destroyer. For Major White was +deemed a lucky man by his comrades, who had a habit of giving him +messages for their friends before they went into the field. Perhaps, +moreover, the major was of the opinion of those ancient writers who +seemed to deem it more important to consider how a man lives than how +he dies. + +"It was some heart trouble," he concluded, "brought on by worry or +sudden excitement." + +"The Malgamite," answered Joan. "It has always been a source of +uneasiness to him. He never quite understood it." + +"No," answered the major, very deliberately, "he never quite understood +it." And he looked out of the window with a thoughtful noncommitting +face. + +"Neither do I--understand it," said Joan, doubtfully. + +And the major looked suddenly dense. He had, as usual, no explanation +to offer. + +"Was father deceived by some one?" Joan asked, after a pause. "One +hears such strange rumours about the Malgamite Fund. I suppose father +was deceived?" + +She spoke of the dead man with that hushed voice which death, with a +singular impartiality to race or creed, seems to demand of the +survivors wheresoever he passes. + +White met her earnest gaze with a grave nod. "Yes," he answered. "He +was deceived." + +"He said before he went out that he did not want to go to the meeting +at all," went on Joan, in a tone of tender reminiscence, "but that he +had always made a point of sacrificing his inclination to his sense of +duty. Poor father!" + +"Yes," said the major, looking out of the window. And he bore Joan's +steady, searching glance like a man. + +"Tell me," she said suddenly. "Were you and Tony deceived also?" + +Major White reflected for a moment. It is unwise to tell even the +smallest lie in haste. + +"No," he answered at length. "Not so entirely as your father." + +He uncrossed his legs, and made a feeble attempt to divert her +thoughts. + +But Joan was on the trail as it were of a half-formed idea in her own +mind, and she would not have been a woman if she had relinquished the +quest so easily. + +"But you were deceived at first?" she inquired, rather anxiously. "I +know Tony was. I am sure of it. Perhaps he found out later; but you--" + +She drew her hand from under his rather hastily, having just found out +that it was in that equivocal position. + +"You were never deceived," she said, with a suspicion of resentment. + +"Well--perhaps not," admitted the major, reluctantly. And he looked +regretfully at the hand she had withdrawn. "Don't know much about +charities," he continued, after a pause. "Don't quite look at them in +the right light, perhaps. Seems to me that you ought to be more +business-like in charities than in anything else; and we're not +business men--not even you." + +He looked at her very solemnly and wisely, as if the thoughts in his +mind would be of immense value if he could only express them; but he +was without facilities in that direction. If one cannot be wise, the +next best thing is to have a wise look. He rose, for he had caught +sight of Tony Cornish crossing the Toornoifeld in the shade of the +trees. Perhaps the major had forgotten for the moment that a great man +was dead; that there were letters to be written and telegrams to be +despatched; that the world must know of it, and the insatiable maw of +the public be closed by a few scraps of news. For the public mind must +have its daily food, and the wise are they who tell it only that which +it is expedient for it to know. + +Lord Ferriby's life was, moreover, one that needed careful obituary +treatment. Everybody's life may for domestic purposes be described as a +hash; but Lord Ferriby's was a hash which in the hands of a cheap +democratic press might easily be served up so daintily as to be very +savoury in the nostrils of the world. Some of its component parts were +indeed exceedingly ancient, and, so to speak, gamey, while the +Malgamite scheme alone might easily be magnified into a very passable +scandal. + +Tony came into the room, keen and capable. He did not show much +feeling. Perhaps Joan and he understood each other without any such +display. For they had known each other many years, and had understood +other and more subtle matters without verbal explanation. For the world +had been pleased to say that Joan and Tony must in the end inevitably +marry. And they had never explained, never contradicted, and never +married. + +While the three were still talking, a carriage rattled up to the door +of the hotel, and then another. There began, in a word, that hushed +confusion--that running to and fro as of ants upon a disturbed +ant-hill--which follows hard upon the footsteps of the grim messenger, +who himself is content to come so quietly and unobtrusively. Roden +arrived to make inquiries, and Mrs. Vansittart, and a messenger from +more than one embassy. Then the Wades came, brought hurriedly back by a +messenger sent after them by Tony Cornish. + +Marguerite, with characteristic energy, came into the room first, slim +and bright-eyed. She looked from one face to the other, and then +crossed the room and stood beside Joan without speaking. She was +smiling--a little hard smile with close-set lips, showing the world a +face that meant to take life open-eyed, as it is, and make the best of +it. + +Before long the two girls quitted the room, leaving the three men to +their hushed discussion. Tony had already provided himself with pen and +paper. In twelve hours that which the world must know about Lord +Ferriby should be in print. There was just time to cable it to the +_Times_ and the news agencies. And in these hurried days it is the +first word which, after all, goes farthest and carries most weight. A +contradiction is at all times a poor expedient. + +"I have silenced the paper-makers," said Cornish, sitting down to +write. "Even that ass Thompson, by striking while the iron was hot." + +"And Roden won't open his lips," added Mr. Wade, who, as he drove up, +had seen that brilliant financier uneasily strolling under the trees of +the Toornoifeld, looking towards the hotel, for Lord Ferriby's death +was a link in the crooked malgamite chain which even Von Holzen had +failed to foresee. + +Indeed, Lord Ferriby must have been gratified could he have seen the +posthumous pother that he made by dying at this juncture. For in life +he had only been important in his own eyes, and the world had taken +little heed of him. This same keen-sighted world would not regret him +much now and would assuredly mete out to that miserly old screw, his +widow, only as much sympathy as the occasion deserved. Lady Ferriby +would, the world suspected, sell off his lordship's fancy waistcoats, +and proceed to save money to her heart's content. Even the thought of +his club subscriptions, now necessarily to be discontinued, must have +assuaged a large part of the widow's grief. Such, at least, was the +opinion of the clubs themselves, when the news was posted up among the +weather reports and the latest tapes from the House that same evening. + +While Lord Ferriby's friends were comfortably endowing him with a few +compensating virtues over their tea and hot buttered toast in Pall Mall +and St. James's Street, Mr. Wade, Tony, and White dined together at the +Hotel of the Old Shooting Gallery at The Hague. The hour was an early +one, and had never been countenanced by Lord Ferriby, but the three men +in whose hands he had literally left his good name did not attach +supreme importance to this matter. Indeed, the banker thought kindly of +six-thirty as an hour at which in earlier days he had been endowed with +a better appetite than he ever possessed now at eight o'clock or later. +While they were at table a telegram was handed to Cornish. It was from +Lord Ferriby's solicitor in London, and contained the advice that Tony +Cornish had been appointed sole executor of his lordship's will. + +"Thank God!" said Tony, with a little laugh, as he read the message and +handed it across to Mr. Wade, who looked at it gravely without comment. +"And now," said Cornish, "not even Joan need know." + +For Cornish, having perceived Percy Roden under the trees of the +Toornoifeld, had gone out there to speak to him, and in answer to a +plain question had received a plain answer as to the price that Lord +Ferriby had been paid for the use of his name in the Malgamite +Fund transactions. + +Joan had elected to remain in her own rooms, with Marguerite to keep +her company, until the evening, when, under White's escort, she was to +set out for England. The major had in a minimum of words expressed +himself ready to do anything at any time, provided that the service did +not require an abnormal conversational effort. + +"I shall be home twenty-four hours after you," said Cornish, as he bade +Joan good-bye at the station. "And you need believe no rumours and fear +no gossip. If people ask impertinent questions, refer them to White." + +"And I'll thump them," added the major, who indeed looked capable of +rendering that practical service. + +They were favoured by a full moon and a perfect night for their passage +from the Hook of Holland to Harwich. Joan expressed a desire to remain +on deck, at all events, until the lights of the Maas had been left +behind. Major White procured two deck chairs, and found a corner of the +upper deck which was free alike from too much wind and too many people. +There they sat in the shadow of a boat, and Joan seemed fully occupied +with her own thoughts, for she did not speak while the steamer ploughed +steadily onwards through the smooth water. + +"I wonder if it is my duty to continue to take an active part in the +Malgamite Fund," she said at length. + +And the major, who had been permitted to smoke, looked attentively at +the lighted end of his cigar, and said nothing. + +"I am afraid it must be," continued Joan, whose earnest endeavours to +find out what was her duty, and do it, occupied the larger part of her +time and attention. + +"Why?" asked Major White. + +"Because I don't want to." + +The major thought about the matter for a long time--almost half through +a cigar. It was wonderful how so much thought could result in so few +words, especially in these days, which are essentially days of many +words and few thoughts. During this period of meditation, Joan sat +looking out to sea, and the moon shining down upon her face showed it +to be puckered with anxiety. Like many of her contemporaries, she was +troubled by an intense desire to do her duty, coupled with an +unfortunate lack of duties to perform. + +"I wish you would tell me what you think," she said. + +"Seems to me," said White, "that your duty is clear enough." + +"Yes?" + +"Yes. Drop the Malgamiters and the Haberdashers and all that, +and--marry me." + +But Joan only shook her head sadly. "That cannot be my duty," she said. + +"Why? 'Cos it isn't unpleasant enough?" + +"No," answered Joan, after a pause, in the deepest +earnestness--"no--that's just it." + +Out of which ambiguous observation the major seemed to gather some +meaning, for he looked up at the moon with one of his most vacant +smiles. + + + + +CHAPTER XXIX. + +A LESSON. + +"Whom the gods mean to destroy, they blind." + + +Mrs. Vansittart had passed the age of blind love. She had not the +incentive of a healthy competition. She had not that more dangerous +incentive of middle-aged vanity, which draws the finger of derision so +often in the direction of widows. And yet she took a certain pleasure +in playing a half-careless and wholly cynical Juliet to Percy Roden's +_gauche_ Romeo. She had no intention of marrying him, and yet she +continued to encourage him even now that open war was declared between +Cornish and the malgamite makers. Cornish had indeed thanked Mrs. +Vansittart for her assistance in the past in such a manner as to convey +to her that she could hardly be of use to him in the future. He had +magnified her good offices, and had warned her to beware of arousing +Von Holzen's anger. Indeed, her use of Percy Roden was at an end, and +yet she would not let him go. Cornish was puzzled, and so was +Dorothy. Percy Roden was gratified, and read the riddle by the light of +his own vanity. Mrs. Vansittart was not, perhaps, the first woman to +puzzle her neighbours by refusing to relinquish that which she did not +want. She was not the first, perhaps, to nurse a subtle desire to play +some part in the world rather than be left idle in the wings. So she +played the part that came first and easiest to her hand--a woman's +natural part, of stirring up strife between men. + +She was, therefore, gratified when Von Holzen made his way slowly towards +her through the crowd on the Kursaal terrace one afternoon on the +occasion of a Thursday concert. She was sitting alone in a far +corner of the terrace, protected by a glass screen from the wind which +ever blows at Scheveningen. She never mingled with the summer visitors +at this popular Dutch resort--indeed, knew none of them. Von Holzen +seemed to be similarly situated; but Mrs. Vansittart knew that he did +not seek her out on that account. He was not a man to do anything--much +less be sociable--out of idleness. He only dealt with his fellow-beings +when he had a use for them. + +She returned his grave bow with an almost imperceptible movement of the +head, and for a moment they looked hard at each other. + +"Madame still lingers at The Hague," he said. + +"As you see." + +"And is the game worth the candle?" + +He laid his hand tentatively on a chair, and looked towards her with an +interrogative glance. He would not, it appeared, sit down without her +permission. And, womanlike, she gave it, with a shrug of one shoulder. +A woman rarely refuses a challenge. "And is the game worth the candle?" +he repeated. + +"One can only tell when it is played out," was the reply; and Herr von +Holzen glanced quickly at the lady who made it. + +He turned away and listened to the music. An occasional concert was the +one diversion he allowed himself at this time from his most absorbing +occupation of making a fortune. He had probably a real love of music, +which is not by any means given to the good only, or the virtuous. +Indeed, it is the art most commonly allied to vice. + +"By the way," said Von Holzen, after a pause, "that paper which it +pleased madame's fantasy to possess at one time--is destroyed. Its +teaching exists only in my unworthy brain." + +He turned and looked at her with his slow smile, his measuring eyes. + +"Ah!" + +"Yes; so madame need give the question no more thought, and may turn +her full attention to her new--fancy." + +Mrs. Vansittart was studying her programme, and did not look up or +display the slightest interest in what he was saying. + +"Every event seems but to serve to strengthen our position," went on +Von Holzen, still half listening to the music. "Even the untimely death +of Lord Ferriby--which might at first have appeared a _contretemps_. +Cornish takes home the coffin by tonight's mail, I understand. Men may +come, madame, and men may go--but we go on for ever. We are still +prosperous--despite our friends. And Cornish is nonplussed. He does not +know what to do next, and fate seems to be against him. He has no luck. +We are manufacturing--day and night." + +"You are interested in Mr. Cornish," observed Mrs. Vansittart, coolly; +and she saw a sudden gleam in Von Holzen's eyes. + +After all, the man had a passion over which his control was +insecure--the last, the longest of the passions--hatred. He shrugged +his shoulders. + +"He has forced himself upon our notice--unnecessarily as the result has +proved--only to find out that there is no stopping us." + +He could scarcely control his voice as he spoke of Cornish, and looked +away as if fearing to show the expression of his eyes. + +Mrs. Vansittart watched him with a cool little smile. Von Holzen had +not come here to talk of Cornish. He had come on purpose to say +something which he had not succeeded in saying yet, and she was not +ignorant of this. She was going to make it as difficult as possible for +him, so that when he at last said what he had come to say, she should +know it, and perhaps divine his motives. + +"Even now," he continued, "we have succeeded beyond our expectations. +We are rich men, so that madame--need delay no longer." He turned and +looked her straight in the eyes. + +"I?" she inquired, with raised eyebrows. "Need delay no longer--in +what?" + +"In consummating the happiness of my partner, Percy Roden," he was +clever enough to say without being impertinent. "He--and his banking +account--are really worth the attention of any lady." + +Mrs. Vansittart laughed, and, before answering, acknowledged stiffly +the stiff salutation of a passer. + +"Then it is suggested that I am waiting for Mr. Roden to be rich enough +in order to marry him?" + +"It is the talk of gossips and servants." + +Mrs. Vansittart looked at him with an amused smile. Did he really know +so little of the world as to take his information from gossips and +servants? + +"Ah," she said, and that was all. She rose and made a little signal +with her parasol to her coachman, who was waiting in the shadow of the +Kursaal. As she drove home, she wondered why Von Holzen was afraid that +she should marry Percy Roden, who, as it happened, was coming to tea in +Park Straat that evening. Mrs. Vansittart had not exactly invited +him--not, at all events, that he was aware of. He was under the +impression that he had himself proposed the visit. + +She remembered that he was coming, but gave no further thought to him. +All her mind was, indeed, absorbed with thoughts of Von Holzen, whom +she hated with the dull and deadly hatred of the helpless. The sight of +him, the sound of his voice, stirred something within her that vibrated +for hours, so that she could think of nothing else--could not even give +her attention to the little incidents of daily life. She pretended to +herself that she sought retribution--that she wished on principle to +check a scoundrel in his successful career. The heart, however, knows +no principles; for these are created by and belong to the mind. Which +explains why many women seem to have no principles and many virtuous +persons no heart. + +Mrs. Vansittart went home to make a careful toilet pending the arrival +of Percy Roden. She came down to the drawing-room, and stood idly at +the window. + +"The talk of gossips and servants," she repeated bitterly to herself. +One of Von Holzen's shafts had, at all events, gone home. And Percy +Roden came into the room a few minutes afterwards. His manner had more +assurance than when he had first made Mrs. Vansittart's acquaintance. +He had, perhaps, a trifle less respect for the room and its occupant. +Mrs. Vansittart had allowed him to come nearer to her; and +when a woman allows a man of whom she has a low opinion to come near to +her, she trifles with her own self-respect, and does harm which, +perhaps, may never be repaired. + +"I was too busy to go to the concert this afternoon," he said, sitting +down in his loose-limbed way. + +His assumption that his absence had been noticed rather nettled his +hearer. + +"Ah! Were you not there?" she inquired. + +He turned and looked at her with his curt laugh. "If I had been there +you would have known it," he said. + +It was just one of those remarks--delivered in the half-mocking voice +assumed in self-protection--which Mrs. Vansittart had hitherto allowed +to pass unchallenged. And now, quite suddenly, she resented the manner +and the speech. + +"Indeed," she said, with a subtle inflection of tone which should have +warned him. + +But he was engaged in drawing down his cuffs. Many young men would know +more of the world if they had no cuffs or collars to distract them. + +"Yes," answered Roden; "if I had gone to the concert it would not have +been for the music." + +Percy Roden's method of making love was essentially modern. He threw to +Mrs. Vansittart certain scraps of patronage and admiration, which she +could pick up seriously and keep if she cared to. But he was not going +to risk a wound to his vanity by taking the initiative too earnestly. +Mrs. Vansittart, who was busy at the tea-table, set down a cup which +she had in her hand and crossed the room towards him. + +"What do you mean, Mr. Roden?" she asked slowly. + +He looked up with wavering eyes, and visibly lost colour under her +gaze. + +"What do I mean?" + +"Yes. What do you mean when you say that, if you had gone to the +concert, it would not have been for the music; that if you had been +there, I should have known of your presence, and a hundred +other--impertinences?" + +At first Roden thought that the way was being made easy for him as it +is in books, as, indeed, it sometimes is in life, when it happens to be +a way that is not worth the treading; but the last word stung him like +a lash--as it was meant to sting. It was, perhaps, that one word that +made him rise from his chair. + +"If you meant to object to anything that I may say, you should have +done so long ago," he said. "Who was the first to speak at the hotel +when I came to The Hague? Which of us was it that kept the friendship +up and cultivated it? I am not blind. I could hardly be anything else, +if I had failed to see what you have meant all along." + +"What have I meant all along?" she asked, with a strange little smile. + +"Why, you have meant me to say such things as I have said, and perhaps +more." + +"More--what can you mean?" + +She looked at him still with a smile, which he did not understand. And, +like many men, he allowed his vanity to explain things which his +comprehension failed to elucidate. + +"Well," he said, after a moment's hesitation, "will you marry me? +There!" + +"No, Mr. Roden, I will not," she answered promptly; and then suddenly +her eyes flashed, at some recollection, perhaps--at some thought +connected with her happy past contrasted with this sordid, ignoble +present. + +"You!" she cried. "Marry you!" + +"Why," he asked, with a bitter little laugh, "what is there wrong with +me?" + +"I do not know what there is wrong with you. And I am not interested to +inquire. But, so far as I am concerned, there is nothing right." + +A woman's answer after all, and one of those reasons which are no +reasons, and yet rule the world. + +Roden looked at her, completely puzzled. In a flash of thought he +recalled Dorothy's warning, and her incomprehensible foresight. + +"Then," he said, lapsing in his self-forgetfulness into the terse +language of his everyday life and thought, "what on earth have you been +driving at all along?" + +"I have been driving at Herr von Holzen and the Malgamite scheme. I +have been helping Tony Cornish," she answered. + +So Percy Roden quitted the house at the corner of Park Straat a wiser +man, and perhaps he left a wiser woman in it. + +"My dear," said Mrs. Vansittart to Marguerite Wade, long afterwards, +when a sort of friendship had sprung up and ripened between them--"my +dear, never let a man ask you to marry him unless you mean to say yes. +It will do neither of you any good." + +And Marguerite, who never allowed another the last word, gave a shrewd +little nod before she answered--"I always say no--before they ask me." + + + + +CHAPTER XXX. + +ON THE QUEEN'S CANAL. + + "There's not a crime--But takes its proper change still out in crime +If once rung on the counter of this world." + + +Cornish went back to The Hague immediately after Lord Ferriby's funeral +because it has been decreed that for all men, this large world shall +sooner or later narrow down to one city, perhaps, or one village, or a +single house. For a man's life is always centred round a memory or a +hope, and neither of those requires much space wherein to live. Tony +Cornish's world had narrowed to the Villa des Dunes on the sandhills of +Scheveningen, and his mind's eye was always turned in that direction. +His one thought at this time was to protect Dorothy--to keep, if +possible, the name she bore from harm and ill-fame. Each day that +passed meant death to the malgamite workers. He could not delay. He +dared not hurry. He wrote again to Percy Roden from London, amid the +hurried preparations for the funeral, and begged him to sever his +connection with Von Holzen. + + +"You will not have time," he wrote, "to answer this before I leave for +The Hague. I shall stay on the Toornoifeld as usual, and hope to arrive +about nine o'clock to-morrow evening. I shall leave the hotel about a +quarter-past nine and walk down the right-hand bank of the Koninginne +Gracht, and should like to meet you by the canal, where we can have a +talk. I have many reasons to submit to your consideration why it will +be expedient for you to come over to my side in this difference now, +which I cannot well set down on paper. And remember that between men of +the world, such as I suppose we may take ourselves to be, there is no +question of one of us judging the other. Let me beg of you to consider +your position in regard to the Malgamite scheme--and meet me to-morrow +night between the Malie Veld and the Achter Weg about half-past nine. I +cannot see you at the works, and it would be better for you not to come +to my hotel." + +The letter was addressed to the Villa des Dunes, where Roden received +it the next morning. Dorothy saw it, and guessed from whom it was, +though she hardly knew her lover's writing. He had adhered firmly to +his resolution to keep himself in the background until he had finished +the work he had undertaken. He had not written to her; had scarcely +seen her. Roden read the letter, and put it in his pocket without a +word. It had touched his vanity. He had had few dealings with men of +the standing and position of Cornish, and here was this peer's nephew +and peer's grandson appealing to him as to a friend, classing him +together with himself as a man of the world. No man has so little +discretion as a vain man. It is almost impossible for him to keep +silence when speech will make for his glorification. Roden arrived at +the works well pleased with himself, and found Von Holzen in their +little office, put out, ill at ease, domineering. It was unfortunate, +if you will. Percy Roden was always ready to perceive his own +ill-fortune, and looked back later to this as one of his most untoward +hours. Life, however, should surely consist of seizing the fortunate +and fighting through the ill moments--else why should men have heart +and nerve? + +In such humours as they found themselves it did not take long for these +two men to discover a question upon which to differ. It was a mere +matter of detail connected with the money at that time passing through +their hands. + +"Of course," said Roden, in the course of a useless and trivial +dispute--"of course you think you know best, but you know nothing of +finance--remember that. Everybody knows that it is I who have run that +part of the business. Ask old Wade, or White--or Cornish." + +The argument had, in truth, been rather one-sided. For Roden had done +all the talking, while Von Holzen looked at him with a quiet eye and a +silent contempt that made him talk all the more. Von Holzen did not +answer now, though his eye lighted at the mention of Cornish's name. He +merely looked at Roden with a smile, which conveyed as clearly as words +Von Holzen's suggestion that none of the three men named would be +prepared to give Roden a very good character. "I had a letter, by the +way, from Cornish this morning," said Roden, lapsing into his grander +manner, which Von Holzen knew how to turn to account. + +"Ah--bah!" he exclaimed sceptically. And that lurking vanity of the +inferior to lessen his own inferiority did the rest. + +"If you don't believe me, there you are," said Roden, throwing the +letter upon the table--not ill-pleased, in the heat of the moment, to +show that he was a more important person than his companion seemed to +think. + +Von Holzen read the letter slowly and thoughtfully. The fact that it +was evidently intended for Roden's private eye did not seem to affect +one or the other of these two men, who had travelled, with difficulty, +along the road to fortune, only reaching their bourn at last with a +light stock of scruples and a shattered code of honour. Then he folded +it, and handed it back. He was not likely to forget a word of it. + +"I suppose you will go," he said. "It will be interesting to hear what +he has to say. That letter is a confession of weakness." + +In making which statement Von Holzen showed his own weak point. For, +like many clever men, he utterly failed to give to women their +place--the leading place--in the world's history, as in the little +histories of our daily lives. He never detected Dorothy between every +line of Cornish's letter, and thought that it had only been dictated by +inability to meet the present situation. + +"I cannot very well refuse to go since the fellow asks me," said Roden, +grandly. He might as well have displayed his grandeur to a statue. If +love is blind, self-love is surely half-witted as well, for it never +sees nor understands that the world is fooling it. Roden failed to heed +the significant fact that Von Holzen did not even ask him what line of +conduct he intended to follow with regard to Cornish, nor seek in his +autocratic way to instruct him on that point; but turned instead to +other matters and did not again refer to Cornish or the letter he had +written. + +So the day wore on while Cornish impatiently walked the deck of the +steamer, ploughing its way across the North Sea, through showers and +thunderstorms and those grey squalls that flit to and fro on the German +Ocean. And some tons of malgamite were made, while a manufacturer or +two of the grim product laid aside his tools forever, while the money +flowed in, and Otto von Holzen thought out his deep silent plans over +his vats and tanks and crucibles. And all the while those who write in +the book of fate had penned the last decree. + +Cornish arrived punctually at The Hague. He drove to the hotel, where +he was known, where, indeed, he had never relinquished his room. There +was no letter for him--no message from Percy Roden. But Von Holzen had +unobtrusively noted his arrival at the station from the crowded retreat +of the second-class waiting-room. + +The day had been a very hot one, and from canal and dyke arose that +sedgy odour which comes with the cool of night in all Holland. It is +hardly disagreeable, and conveys no sense of unhealthiness. + +It seems merely to be the breath of still waters, and, in hot weather, +suggests very pleasantly the relief of northern night. The Hague has +two dominant smells. In winter, when the canals are frozen, the reek of +burning-peat is on the air and in the summer the odour of slow waters. +Cornish knew them both. He knew everything about this old-world city, +where the turning-point of his life had been fixed. It was deserted +now. The great houses, the theatre--the show-places--were closed. The +Toornoifeld was empty. + +The hotel porter, aroused by the advent of the traveller from an +after-dinner nap in his little glass box, spread out his hands with a +gesture of surprise. + +"The season is over," he said. "We are empty. Why you come to The Hague +now?" + +Even the sentries at the end of the Korte Voorhout wore a holiday air +of laxness, and swung their rifles idly. Cornish noticed that only half +of the lamps were lighted. + +The banks of the Queen's Canal are heavily shaded by trees, which, +indeed, throw out their branches to meet above the weed-sown water. +There is a broad thoroughfare on either side of the canal, though +little traffic passes that way. These are two of the many streets of +The Hague which seem to speak of a bygone day, when Holland played a +greater part in the world's history than she does at present, for the +houses are bigger than the occupants must need, and the streets are too +wide for the traffic passing through them. In the middle the canal--a +gloomy corridor beneath the trees--creeps noiselessly towards the sea. +Cornish was before the appointed hour, and walked leisurely by the +pathway between the trees and the canal. Soon the houses were left +behind, and he passed the great open space called the Malie Veld. He +had met no one since leaving the guard-house. It was a dark night, with +no moon, but the stars were peeping through the riven clouds. + +"Unless he stands under a lamp, I shall not see him," he said to +himself, and lighted a cigar to indicate his whereabouts to Roden, +should he elect to keep the appointment. When he had gone a few paces +farther he saw someone coming towards him. There was a lamp halfway +between them, and, as he approached the light, Cornish recognized +Roden. There was no mistaking the long loose stride. + +"I wonder," said Cornish, "if this is going to the end?" + +And he went forward to meet the financier. + +"I was afraid you would not come," he said, in a voice that was +friendly enough, for he was a man of the world, and in that which is +called Society (with a capital letter) had rubbed elbows all his life +with many who had no better reputation than Percy Roden, and some who +deserved a worse. + +"Oh, I don't mind coming," answered Roden, "because I did not want to +keep you waiting here in the dark. But it is no good, I tell you that +at the outset." + +"And nothing I can say will alter your decision?" + +"Nothing. A man does not get two such chances as this in his lifetime. I +am not going to throw this one away for the sake of a sentiment." + +"Sentiment hardly describes the case," said Cornish, thoughtfully. "Do +you mean to tell me that you do not care about all these deaths--about +these poor devils of malgamiters?" And he looked hard at his companion +beneath the lamp. + +"Not a d--n," answered Roden. "I have been poor--you haven't. Why, man! +I have starved inside a good coat. You don't know what that means." + +Cornish looked at him, and said nothing. There was no mistaking the +man's sincerity--nor the manner in which his voice suddenly broke when +he spoke of hunger. + +"Then there are only two things left for me to do," said Cornish, after +a moment's reflection. "Ask your sister to marry me first, and smash +you up afterwards." + +Roden, who was smoking, threw his cigarette away. "You mean to do both +these things?" + +"Both." + +Roden looked at him. He opened his lips to speak, but suddenly leapt +back. + +"Look out!" he cried, and had barely time to point over Cornish's +shoulder. + +Cornish swung round on his heel. He belonged to a school and generation +which, with all its faults, has, at all events, the redeeming quality +of courage. He had long learnt to say the right thing, which +effectually teaches men to do the right thing also. He saw some one +running towards him, noiselessly, in rubber shoes. He had no time to +think, and scarce a moment in which to act, for the man was but two +steps away with an upraised arm, and in the lamplight there flashed the +gleam of steel. + +Cornish concentrated his attention on the upraised arm, seizing it with +both hands, and actually swinging his assailant off his legs. He knew +in an instant who it was, without needing to recognize the smell of +malgamite. This was Otto von Holzen, who had not hesitated to state his +opinion--that it is often worth a man's while to kill another. + +While his feet were still off the ground, Cornish let him go, and he +staggered away into the darkness of the trees. Cornish, who was lithe +and quick, rather than of great physical force, recovered his balance +in a moment, and turned to face the trees. He knew that Von Holzen +would come back. He distinctly hoped that he would. For man is +essentially the first of the "game" animals and beneath fine clothes +there nearly always beats a heart ready, quite suddenly, to snatch the +fearful joy of battle. + +Von Holzen did not disappoint him, but came flying on silent feet, like +some beast of prey, from the darkness. Cornish had played half-back for +his school not so many years before. He collared Von Holzen low, and +let him go, with a cruel skill, heavily on his head and shoulder. Not a +word had been spoken, and, in the stillness of the summer night, each +could hear the other breathing. + +Roden stood quite still. He could scarcely distinguish the antagonists. +His own breath came whistling through his teeth. His white face was +ghastly and twitching. His sleepy eyes were awake now, and staring. + +Each charge had left Cornish nearer to the canal. He was standing now +quite at the edge. He could smell, but he could not see the water, and +dared not turn his head to look. There is no railing here as there is +nearer the town. + +In a moment, Von Holzen was on his feet again. In the dark, mere inches +are much equalized between men--but Von Holzen had a knife. Cornish, who +held nothing in his hands, knew that he was at a fatal disadvantage. + +Again, Von Holzen ran at him with his arm outstretched for a swinging +stab. Cornish, in a flash of thought, recognized that he could not meet +this. He stepped neatly aside. Von Holzen attempted to stop stumbled, +half recovered himself, and fell headlong into the canal. + +In a moment Cornish and Roden were at the edge, peering into the +darkness. Cornish gave a breathless laugh. + +"We shall have to fish him out," he said. + +And he knelt down, ready to give a hand to Von Holzen. But the water, +smooth again now, was not stirred by so much as a ripple. + +"Suppose he can swim?" muttered Roden, uneasily. + +And they waited in a breathless silence. There was something horrifying +in the single splash, and then the stillness. + +"Gad!" whispered Cornish. "Where is he?" + +Roden struck a match, and held it inside his hat so as to form a sort +of lantern, though the air was still enough. Cornish did the same, and +they held the lights out over the water, throwing the feeble rays right +across the canal. + +"He cannot have swum away," he said. "Von Holzen," he cried out +cautiously, after another pause--"Von Holzen--where are you?" + +But there was no answer. + +The surface of the canal was quite still and glassy in those parts that +were not covered by the close-lying duck-weed. The water crept +stealthily, slimily, towards the sea. + +The two men held their breath and waited. Cornish was kneeling at the +edge of the water, peering over. + +"Where is he?" he repeated. "Gad! Roden, where is he?" + +And Roden, in a hoarse voice, answered at length "He is in the mud at +the bottom--head downwards." + + + + +CHAPTER XXXI. + +AT THE CORNER. + +"L'homme s'agite et Dieu le mene." + + +The two men on the edge of the canal waited and listened again. It +seemed still possible that Von Holzen had swum away in the darkness--had +perhaps landed safely and unperceived on the other side. + +"This," said Cornish, at length, "is a police affair. Will you wait here +while I go and fetch them?" + +But Roden made no answer, and in the sudden silence Cornish heard the +eerie sound of chattering teeth. Percy Roden had morally collapsed. +His mind had long been t a great tension, and this shock had unstrung +him. Cornish seized him by the arm, and held him while he hook like a +leaf and swayed heavily. + +"Come, man," said Cornish, kindly--"come, pull yourself together." + +He held him steadily and patiently until the shaking eased. + +"I'll go," said Roden, at length. "I couldn't stay ere alone." + +And he staggered away towards The Hague. It seemed hours before he came +back. A carriage rattled past Cornish while he waited there, and two +foot-passengers paused for a moment to look at him with some suspicion. + +At last Roden returned, accompanied by a police official--a phlegmatic +Dutchman, who listened to the story in silence. He shook his head at +Cornish's suggestion, made in halting Dutch mingled with German, that +Von Holzen had swum away in the darkness. + +"No," said the officer, "I know these canals--and this above all others. +They will find him, planted in the mud at the bottom, head downward +like a tulip. The head goes in and the hands are powerless, for they +only grasp soft mud like a fresh junket." He drew his short sword from +its sheath, and scratched a deep mark in the gravel. Then he turned to +the nearest tree, and made a notch on the bark with the blade. "There +is nothing to be done tonight," he said philosophically. "There are men +engaged in dredging the canal. I will set them to work at dawn before +the world is astir. In the mean time"--he paused to return his sword to +its scabbard--"in the meantime I must have the names and residence of +these gentlemen. It is not for me to believe or disbelieve their +story." + +"Can you go home alone? Are you all right now?" Cornish asked Roden, as +he walked away with him towards the Villa des Dunes. + +"Yes, I can go home alone," he answered, and walked on by himself, +unsteadily. + +Cornish watched him, and, before he had gone twenty yards, Roden +stopped. "Cornish!" he shouted. + +"Yes." + +And they walked towards each other. + +"I did not know that Von Holzen was there. You will believe that?" + +"Yes; I will believe that," answered Cornish. + +And they parted a second time. Cornish walked slowly back to the hotel. +He limped a little, for Von Holzen had in the struggle kicked him on +the ankle. He suddenly felt very tired, but was not shaken. On the +contrary, he felt relieved, as if that which he had been attempting so +long had been suddenly taken from his hands and consummated by a higher +power, with whom all responsibility rested. He went to bed with a +mechanical deliberation, and slept instantly. The daylight was +streaming into the window when he awoke. No one sleeps very heavily at +The Hague--no one knows why--and Cornish awoke with all his senses +about him at the opening of his bedroom door. Roden had come in and was +standing by the bedside. His eyes had a sleepless look. He looked, +indeed, as if he had been up all night, and had just had a bath. + +"I say," he said, in his hollow voice--"I say, get up. They have found +him--and we are wanted. We have to go and identify him--and all that." + +While Cornish was dressing, Roden sat heavily down on a chair near the +window. + +"Hope you'll stick by me," he said, and, pausing, stretched out his +hand to the washing-stand to pour himself out a glass of water--"I hope +you'll stick by me. I'm so confoundedly shaky. Don't know what it +is--look at my hand." He held out his hand, which shook like a +drunkard's. + +"That is only nerves," said Cornish, who was ever optimistic and +cheerful. He was too wise to weigh carefully his reasons for looking at +the best side of events. "That is nothing. You have not slept, I +expect." + +"No; I've been thinking. I say, Cornish--you must stick by me--I have +been thinking. What am I to do with the malgamiters? I cannot manage +the devils as Von Holzen did. I'm--I'm a bit afraid of them, Cornish." + +"Oh, that will be all right. Why, we have Wade, and can send for White +if we want him. Do not worry yourself about that. What you want is +breakfast. Have you had any?" + +"No. I left the house before Dorothy was awake or the servants were +down. She knows nothing. Dorothy and I have not hit it off lately." + +Cornish made no answer. He was ringing the bell, and ordered coffee +when the waiter came. + +"Haven't met any incident in life yet," he said cheerfully, "that +seemed to justify missing out meals." + +The incident that awaited them was not, however, a pleasant one, though +the magistrate in attendance afforded a courteous assistance in the +observance of necessary formalities. Both men made a deposition before +him. + +"I know something," he said to Cornish, "of this malgamite business. We +have had our eye upon Von Holzen for some time--if only on account of +the death-rate of the city." + +They breathed more freely when they were out in the street. Cornish +made some unimportant remark, which the other did not answer. So they +walked on in silence. Presently, Cornish glanced at his companion, and +was startled at the sight of his face, which was grey, and glazed all +over with perspiration, as an actor's face may sometimes be at the end +of a great act. Then he remembered that Roden had not spoken for a long +time. + +"What is the matter?" he asked. + +"Didn't you see?" gasped Roden. + +"See what?" + +"The things they had laid on the table beside him. The things they +found in his hands and his pockets." + +"The knife, you mean," said Cornish, whose nerves were worthy of the +blood that flowed in his veins, "and some letters?" + +"Yes; the knife was mine. Everybody knows it. It is an old dagger that +has always lain on a table in the drawing room at the Villa des Dunes." + +"I have never been in the drawing room at the Villa des Dunes, except +once by lamplight," said Cornish, indifferently. + +Roden turned and looked at him with eyes still dull with fear. + +"And among the letters was the one you wrote to me making the +appointment. He must have stolen it from the pocket of my office coat, +which I never wear while I am working." Cornish was nodding his head +slowly. "I see," he said, at length--"I see. It was a pretty _coup_. To +kill me, and fix the crime on you--and hang you?" + +"Yes," said Roden, with a sudden laugh, which neither forgot to his +dying day. + +They walked on in silence. For there are times in nearly every man's +life when events seem suddenly to outpace thought, and we can only act +as seems best at the moment; times when the babbler is still and the +busybody at rest; times when the cleverest of us must recognize that +the long and short of it all is that man agitates himself and God leads +him. At the corner of the Vyverberg they parted--Cornish to return to +his hotel, Roden to go back to the works. His carriage was awaiting him +in a shady corner of the Binnenhof. For Roden had his carriage now, +and, like many possessing suddenly such a vehicle, spent much time and +thought in getting his money's worth out of it. + +"If you want me, send for me, or come to the hotel," were Cornish's +last words, as he shut the successful financier into his brougham. + +At the hotel, Cornish found Mr. Wade and Marguerite lingering over a +late breakfast. + +"You look," said Marguerite, "as if you had been up to something." She +glanced at him shrewdly. "Have you smashed Roden's Corner?" she asked. + +"Yes," answered Cornish, turning to Mr. Wade; "and if you will come out +into the garden, I will tell you how it has been done. Monsieur Creil +said that the paper-makers could begin supplying themselves with +malgamite at a day's notice. We must give them that notice this +morning." + +Mr. Wade, who was never hurried and never late, paused at the open +window to light his cigar before following Marguerite. + +"Ah," he said placidly, "then fortune must have favored you, or +something has happened to Von Holzen." + +Cornish knew that it was useless to attempt to conceal anything +whatsoever from the discerning Marguerite, so--in the quiet garden of +the hotel, where the doves murmur sleepily on the tiles, and the breeze +only stirs the flowers and shrubs sufficiently to disseminate their +scents--he told father and daughter the end of Roden's Corner. + +They were still in the garden, an hour later, writing letters and +telegrams, and making arrangements to meet this new turn in events, +when Dorothy Roden came down the iron steps from the verandah. + +She hurried towards them and shook hands, without explaining her sudden +arrival. + +"Is Percy here?" she asked Cornish. "Have you seen him this morning?" + +"He is not here, but I parted from him a couple of hours ago on the +Vyverberg. He was going down to the works." + +"Then he never got there," said Dorothy. "I have had nearly all the +malgamiters at the Villa des Dunes. They are in open rebellion, and if +Percy had been there they would have killed him. They have heard a +report that Herr von Holzen is dead. Is it true?" "Yes. Von Holzen is +dead." + +"And they broke into the office. They got at the books. They found out +the profits that have been made and they are perfectly wild with fury. +They would have wrecked the Villa des Dunes, but----" + +"But they were afraid of you, my dear," said Mr. Wade, filling in the +blank that Dorothy left. + +"Yes," she admitted. + +"Well played," muttered Marguerite, with shining eyes. + +Cornish had risen, and was folding away his papers. "I will go down to +the works," he said. + +"But you cannot go there alone," put in Dorothy, quickly. + +"He will not need to do that," said Mr. Wade, throwing the end of his +cigar into the bushes, and rising heavily from his chair. + +Marguerite looked at her father with a little upward jerk of the head +and a light in her eyes. It was quite evident that she approved of the +old gentleman. + +"He's a game old thing," she said, aside to Dorothy, while her father +collected his papers. + +"Your brother has probably been warned in time, and will not go near +the works," said Cornish to Dorothy. "He was more than prepared for +such an emergency; for he told me himself that he was half afraid of +the men. He is almost sure to come to me here--in fact, he promised to +do so if he wanted help." + +Dorothy looked at him, and said nothing. The world would be a simpler +dwelling-place if those who, for one reason or another, cannot say +exactly what they mean would but keep silence. + +Cornish told her, hurriedly, what had happened twelve hours ago on the +bank of the Queen's Canal; and the thought of the misspent, crooked +life that had ended in the black waters of that sluggish tideway made +them all silent for a while. For death is in itself dignified, and +demands respect for all with whom he has dealings. Many attain the +distinction of vice in life, while more only reach the mere mediocrity +of foolishness; but in death all are equally dignified. We may, indeed, +assume that we shall, by dying, at last command the respect of even our +nearest relations and dearest friend--for a week or two, until they +forget us. + +"He was a clever man," commented Mr. Wade, shutting up his gold pencil +case and putting it in the pocket of his comfortable waistcoat. "But +clever men are rarely happy----" + +"And clever women--never," added Marguerite--that shrewd seeker after +the last word. + +While they were still speaking, Percy Roden came hurriedly down the +steps. He was pale and tired, but his eye had a light of resolution in +it. He held his head up, and looked at Cornish with a steady glance. +It seemed that the vague danger which he had anticipated so nervously +had come at last, and that he stood like a man in the presence of it. + +"It is all up," he said. "They have found the books; they have +understood them; and they are wrecking the place." + +"They are quite welcome to do that," said Cornish. Mr. Wade, who was +always business-like, had reopened his writing-case when he saw Roden, +and now came forward to hand him a written paper. + +"That is a copy," he said, "of the telegram we have sent to Creil. He +can come here and select what men he wants--the steady ones and the +skilled workmen. With each man we will hand him a cheque in trust. The +others can take their money--and go." + +"And drink themselves to death as expeditiously as they think fit," +added Cornish, the philanthropist--the fashionable drawing-room +champion of the masses. + +"I got back here through the Wood," said Percy Roden, who was still +breathless, as if he had been hurrying. "One of them, a Swede, came to +warn me. They are looking for me in the town--a hundred and twenty of +them, and not one who cares that"--he paused, and gave a snap of the +fingers--"for his life or the law. Both railway stations are watched, +and all the steam-boat stations on the canals; they will kill me if +they catch me." + +His eyes wavered, for there is nothing more terrifying than the avowed +hostility of a mass of men, and no law grimmer than lynch-law. Yet he +held up his head with a sort of pride in his danger--some touch of that +subtle sense of personal distinction which seems to reach the heart of +the victim of an accident, or of a prisoner in the dock. + +"If I had not met that Swede I should have gone on to the works, and +they would have pulled me to pieces there," continued Roden. "I do not +know how I am to get away from The Hague, or where I shall be safe in +the whole world; but the money is at Hamburg and Antwerp. The money is +safe enough." + +He gave a laugh and threw back his head. His hearers looked at him, and +Mr. Wade alone understood his thoughts. For the banker had dealt with +money-makers all his life and knew that to many men, money is a god, +and the mere possession of it dearer to them than life itself. + +"If you stay here, in my room upstairs," said Cornish, "I will go down +to the works now. And this evening I will try and get you away from The +Hague--and from Europe." + +"And I will go to the Villa des Dunes again," added Dorothy, "and pack +your things." + +Marguerite had risen also, and was moving towards the steps. + +"Where are you going?" asked her father. + +"To the Villa des Dunes," she replied; and, turning to Dorothy, added, +"I shall take some clothes and stay with you there until things +straighten themselves out a bit." + +"Why?" + +"Because I cannot let you go there alone." + +"Why not?" asked Dorothy. + +"Because--I am not that sort," said Marguerite; and, turning, she +ascended the iron steps. + + + + +CHAPTER XXXII. + +ROUND THE CORNER. + +"Les heureux ne rient pas; ils sourient." + + +Soon after Mr. Wade and Cornish had quitted their carriage, on that +which is known as the New Scheveningen Road, and were walking across +the dunes to the malgamite works, they met a policeman running towards +them. + +"It is," he answered breathlessly, to their inquiries--"it is the +English Chemical Works on the dunes, which have caught fire. I am +hurrying to the Artillery Station to telegraph for the fire-engines; +but it will be useless. It will all be over in half an hour--by this +wind and after so much dry weather; see the black smoke, excellencies." + +And the man pointed towards a column of smoke, blown out over the +sand-hills by the strong wind, characteristic of these flat coasts. +Then, with a hurried salutation, he ran on. + +Cornish and Mr. Wade proceeded more leisurely on their way; for the +banker was not of a build to hurry even to a fire. Before they had gone +far they perceived another man coming across the Dunes towards The +Hague. As he approached, Cornish recognized the man known as Uncle Ben. +He was shambling along on unsteady legs, and carried his earthly +belongings in a canvas sack of doubtful cleanliness. The recognition +was apparently mutual; for Uncle Ben deviated from his path to come and +speak to them. + +"It's me, mister," he said to Cornish, not disrespectfully. "And I +don't mind tellin' yer that I'm makin' myself scarce. That place is +gettin' a bit too hot for me. They're just pullin' it down and makin' a +bonfire of it. And if you or Mr. Roden goes there, they'll just take +and chuck yer on top of it--and that's God's truth. They're a rough lot +some of them, and they don't distinguish 'tween you and Mr. Roden like +as I do. Soddim and Gomorrer, I say. Soddim and Gomorrer! There won't +be nothin' left of yer in half an hour." And he turned and shook a +dirty fist towards the rising smoke, which was all that remained of the +malgamite works. He hurried on a few paces, then stopped and laid down +his bag. He ran back, calling out "Mister!" as he neared Cornish and +Mr. Wade. "I don't mind tellin' yer," he said to Cornish, with a +ludicrous precautionary look round the deserted dunes to make sure that +he would not be overheard; for he was sober, and consequently +stupid--"I don't mind tellin' yer--seein' as I'm makin' myself scarce, +and for the sake o' Miss Roden, who has always been a good friend to +me--as there's a hundred and twenty of 'em looking for Mr. Roden at this +minute, meanin' to twist his neck; and what's worse, there's +others--men of dedication like myself--who has gone to the +murder, or something. And they'll get it too, with the story they've got +to tell, and them poor devils planted thick as taters in the cheap corner +of the cemetery. I've warned yer, mister." Uncle Ben expectorated with +much emphasis, looked towards the malgamite works with a dubious shake +of the head, and went on his way, muttering, "Soddim and Gomorrer." + +His hearers walked on over the sand-hills towards the smoke, of which +the pungent odour, still faintly suggestive of sealing-wax, reached +their nostrils. At the top of a high dune, surmounted with considerable +difficulty, Mr. Wade stopped. Cornish stood beside him, and from that +point of vantage they saw the last of the malgamite works. Amid the +flames and smoke the forms of men flitted hither and thither, adding +fuel to the fire. + +"They are, at all events, doing the business thoroughly," said the +banker. "And there is nothing to be gained by our disturbing them at +it--and a good deal to be lost--namely, our lives. They are not burning +the cottages, I see; only the factory. There is nothing heroic about +me, Tony. Let us go back." + +But Mr. Wade returned to The Hague alone; for Cornish had matters of +importance requiring his attention. It was now doubly necessary to get +Roden safely away from Holland, and with the necessity increased the +difficulty. For Holland is a small country, well watched, highly +civilized. Cornish knew that it would be next to impossible for Roden +to leave the country by rail or road. There remained, therefore, the +sea. Cornish had, during his sojourn at the humble Swan at +Scheveningen, made certain friends there. And it was to the old village +under the dunes, little known to visitors, and a place apart from the +fashionable bathing resort, that he went in his difficulty. He spent +nearly the whole day in these narrow streets; indeed, he lunched at the +Swan in company of a seafaring gentleman clad in soft blue flannel, and +addicted to the mediaeval coiffure still affected in certain parts of +Zeeland. + +From this quiet retreat Cornish also wrote a note to Dorothy at the +Villa des Dunes, informing her of Roden's new danger, and warning her +not to attempt to communicate with her brother, or even send him his +baggage. In the afternoon Cornish made a few purchases, which he duly +packed in a sailor's kit-bag, and at nightfall Roden arrived on foot. + +The weather was squally, as it often is in August on these coasts; +indeed, the summer seemed to have come to an end before its time. + +"It is raining like the deuce," said Roden, "and I am wet through, +though I came under the trees of the Oude Weg." + +He spoke with his usual suggestion of a grievance, which made Cornish +answer him rather curtly--"We shall be wetter before we get on board." + +It was raining when they quitted the modest Swan, and hurried through +the sparsely lighted, winding streets. Cornish had borrowed two +oil-skin coats and caps, which at once disguised them and protected +them from the rain. Any passer-by would have taken them for a couple of +fishermen going about their business. But there were few in the +streets. + +"Why are you doing all this for me?" asked Roden, suddenly. +"To avoid a scandal," replied Cornish, truthfully enough; for he had +been brought up in a world where the longevity of scandal is fully +understood. + +The wide stretch of sand was entirely deserted when they emerged from +the narrow streets and gained the summit of the sea-wall. A +thunderstorm was growling in the distance, and every moment a flash of +thin summer lightning shimmered on the horizon. The wind was strong, as +it nearly always is here, and shallow white surf stretched seaward +across the flats. The sea roared continuously without that rise and +fall of the breakers which marks a deeper coast, and from the face of +the water there arose a filmy mist--part foam, part phosphorescence. + +As Roden and Cornish passed the little lighthouse, two policemen +emerged from the shadow of the wall, and watched them, half +suspiciously. "Good evening," said one of them. + +"Good evening," answered Cornish, mimicking the sing-song accent of the +Scheveningen streets. + +They walked on in silence. +"Whew!" ejaculated Roden, when the danger seemed to be past, and they +could breathe again. + +They went down a flight of steps to the beach, and stumbled across the +soft sand towards the sea. One or two boats were lying out in the +surf--heavy Dutch fishing-boats, known technically as "pinks," +flat-bottomed, round-prowed, keel less, heavy and ungainly vessels, but +strong as wood and iron and workmanship could make them. Some seemed to +be afloat, others bumped heavily and continuously; while a few lay +stolidly on the ground with the waves breaking right over them as over +rocks. + +The noise of the sea was so great that Cornish touched his companion's +arm, and pointed, without speaking, to one of the vessels where a light +twinkled feebly through the spray breaking over her. It seemed to be +the only vessel preparing to go to sea on the high tide, and, in truth, +the weather looked anything but encouraging. + +"How are we going to get on board?" shouted Roden, amid the roar of the +waves. + +"Walk," answered Cornish, and he led the way into the sea. + +Hampered as they were by their heavy oil skins, their progress was +slow, although the water barely reached their knees. The _Three +Brothers_ was bumping when they reached her and clambered on board over +the bluff sides, sticky with salt water and tar. + +"She'll be afloat in ten minutes," said a man in oil-skins, who helped +them over the low bulwarks. He spoke good English, and seemed to have +learned some of the taciturnity of the seafaring portion of that nation +with their language; for he went aft to the tiller without more words +and took his station there. + +Roden seated himself on the rail and looked back towards Scheveningen. +Cornish stood beside him in silence. The spray broke over them +continuously, and the boat rolled and bumped in such a manner that it +was impossible to stand or even sit without holding on to the clumsy +rigging. + +The lights of Scheveningen were stretched out in a line before them; +the lighthouse winked a glaring eye that seemed to stare over their +heads far out to sea. The summer lightning showed the sands to be bare +and deserted. There were no unusual lights on the sea wall. The Kurhaus +and the hotels were illuminated and gay. The shore took no heed of the +sea tonight. + +"We've succeeded," said Roden, curtly, and quite suddenly he rolled +over in a faint at Cornish's feet. + +The next morning, Dorothy received a letter at the Villa des Dunes, +posted the evening before by Cornish at Scheveningen. + +"We hope to get away tonight," he wrote, "in the 'pink,' the _Three +Brothers_. Our intention is to knock about the North Sea until we find +a suitable vessel--either a sailing ship trading between Norway and +Spain on its way south, or a steamer going direct from Hamburg to South +America. When I have seen your brother safely on board one of these +vessels, I shall return in the _Three Brothers_ to Scheveningen. She is +a small boat, and has a large white patch of new canvas at the top of +her mainsail. So if you see her coming in, or waiting for the tide, you +may conclude that your brother is in safety." + +Later in the day, Mr. Wade called, having driven from The Hague very +comfortably in an open carriage. + +"The house," he said placidly, "is still watched, but I have no doubt +that Tony has outwitted them all. Creil arrived last night, and seems a +capable man. He tells me that half of the malgamiters are in jail at +The Hague for intoxication and uproariousness last night. He is +selecting those he wants, and the rest he will send to their homes. So +we are balancing our affairs very comfortably; and if there is anything +I can do for you, Miss Roden, I am at your command." + +"Oh, Dorothy is all right," said Marguerite, rather hurriedly; and when +her father took his leave, she slipped her hand within his solid arm, +and walked with him across the sand towards the carriage. "Haven't you +seen," she asked--"you old stupid!--that Dorothy is all right? Tony is +in love with her." + +"No," replied the banker, rather humbly--"no, my dear. I am afraid I +had not noticed it." + +Marguerite pressed his arm, not unkindly. "You can't help it," she +explained. "You are only a man, you know." + +The following days were quiet enough at the Villa des Dunes, and it is +in quiet days that a friendship ripens best. The two girls left there +scarcely expected to hear of Cornish's return for some days; but they +fell into the habit of walking towards the sea whenever they went +out-of-doors, and spent many afternoon hours on the dunes. During these +hours Dorothy had many confidential and lively conversations with her +new-found friend. Indeed, confidence and gaiety were so bewilderingly +mingled that Dorothy did not always understand her companion. + +One afternoon, three days after the departure of Percy Roden, when Von +Holzen was buried, and the authorities had expressed themselves content +with the verdict that he had come accidentally by his death, Marguerite +took occasion to congratulate herself, and all concerned, in the fact +that what she vaguely called "things" were beginning to straighten +themselves out. + +"We are round the corner," she said decisively. "And now papa and I +shall go home again, and Miss Williams will come back. Miss +Williams--oh, lord! She is one of those women who have a stick inside +them instead of a heart. And papa will trot out his young men--likely +young men from the city. Papa married the bank, you know. And he wants + me to marry another bank and live gorgeously ever afterwards. Poor old +dear!" + +"I think he would rather you were happy than gorgeous," said Dorothy, +with a laugh, who had seen some of the honest banker's perplexity with +regard to this most delicate financial affair. + +"Perhaps he would. At all events, he does his best--his very best. He +has tried at least fifty of these gentle swains since I came back from +Dresden--red hair and a temper, black hair and an excellent opinion of +one's self, fair hair and stupidity. But they wouldn't do--they +wouldn't do, Dorothy!" + +Marguerite paused, and made a series of holes in the sand with her +walking-stick. + +"There was only one," she said quietly, at length. "I suppose there is +always--only one--eh, Dorothy?" + +"I suppose so," answered Dorothy, looking straight in front of her. + +Marguerite was silent for a while, looking out to sea with a queer +little twist of the lips that made her look older--almost a woman. One +could imagine what she would be like when she was middle-aged, or quite +old, perhaps. + +"He would have done," she said. "Quite easily. He was a million times +cleverer than the rest--a million times--well, he was quite different, +I don't know how. But he was paternal. He thought he was much too old, +so he didn't try----" + +She broke off with a light laugh, and her confidential manner was gone +in a flash. She stuck her stick firmly into the ground, and threw +herself back on the soft sand. + +"So," she cried gaily. _"Vogue la galere_. It's all for the best. That +is the right thing to say when it cannot be helped, and it obviously +isn't for the best. But everybody says it, and it is always wise to +pass in with the crowd, and be conventional--if you swing for it." + +She broke off suddenly, looking at her companion's face. A few boats +had been leisurely making for the shore all the afternoon before a +light wind, and Dorothy had been watching them. They were coming closer +now. + +"Dorothy, do you see the _Three Brothers_?" + +"That is the _Three Brothers_," answered Dorothy, pointing with her +walking-stick. + +For a time they were silent, until, indeed, the boat with the patched +sail had taken the ground gently, a few yards from the shore. A number +of men landed from her, some of them carrying baskets of fish. One, +walking apart, made for the dunes, in the direction of the New +Scheveningen Road. + +"And that is Tony," said Marguerite. "I should know his walk--if I saw +him coming out of the Ark, which, by the way, must have been rather +like the _Three Brothers_ to look at. He has taken your brother safely +away, and now he is coming--to take you." + +"He may remember that I am Percy's sister," suggested Dorothy. + +"It doesn't matter whose sister you are," was the decisive reply. +"Nothing matters"--Marguerite rose slowly, and shook the sand from her +dress--"nothing matters, except one thing, and that appears to be a +matter of absolute chance." + +She climbed slowly to the summit of the dune under which they had been +sitting, and there, pausing, she looked back. She nodded gaily down at +Dorothy. Then suddenly, she held out her hands before her, and Cornish, +looking up, saw her slim young form poised against the sky in a mock +attitude of benediction. + +"Bless you, my dears," she cried, and with a short laugh turned and +walked towards the Villa des Dunes. + +THE END + + + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Roden's Corner, by Henry Seton Merriman + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK RODEN'S CORNER *** + +***** This file should be named 9324.txt or 9324.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/9/3/2/9324/ + +Produced by Jonathan Ingram, Jayam Subramanian, and PG +Distributed Proofreaders + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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