s .d. ^^^kMM )m i^ffi w :^»;^ l»m «. ivs,^%;*^ 4^m^m - >*i*'M? ^^^^^ t' I FOR CASH ONLY KEW NOVELS AT EVERY LIBRARY. IN MAREMMA. By Ouida. 3 vols. Crown 8vo. THE MARTYRDOM OF MADELINE. By Robert Buchanan. 3 vols. Crown 8vo. THE COMET OF A SEASON. By Justin McCarthy. 3 vols. Crown 8vo. A HEART'S PROBLEM. By Charles Gibbon. 2 vols. Crown 8vo. THE BRIDE'S PASS. By Sarah Tytler. 2 vols. Crown 8vo. CHAT TO &^ WIND US, PICCADILLY, IF. FOR CASH ONLY 3i fiobd By JAMES PAYN AUTHOR OF * BY PROXY,' ' LOST SIR MASSINGBERD,' ' HIGH SPIRITS, ' LESS BLACK THAN We'rE PAINTED,' * UNDER ONE ROOF,' ETC. IN THREE VOLUMES VOL. L E out) on CHATTO AND WINDUS. PICCADILLY ^. 82^ TO GEORGE V. YOOL THIS BOOK js ? 4 Digitized by the Internet Archive in 2009 with funding from University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign http://www.archive.org/details/forcashonlynovel01payn CONTENTS OF VOL. I CHAPTER PAGE I. COUSINS ------- I II. A FAMILY PARTY - - - - - 22 III. AN INDEPENDENT OPINION - - "35 IV. THE DOCTOR FROM LONDON - - "53 V. A PROTRACTED LUNCHEON - - "72 VI. AT THE HALL - - - - - " QI VII. FATHER AND DAUGHTER - - - - 109 VIII. LOVERS 'a la mode' . - - . 127 IX. A QUESTION OF TASTE . - - - 149 X. A HALF-LIE 173 XL IN CONFIDENCE - - - - - 1 89 XII. GOSSIP - 204 XIIL MR. RODEN - - - - - - 223 viii CONTENTS. PAGE CHAPTER XIV. SEEING THE LIONS - - - " " 23O XV. A DISSATISFIED GUEST - , " ' ^S^ XVI. THE TIMEPIECE - " " - 272 XVII. PROCRASTINATION - " " " - 29 1 FOR CASH ONLY, CHAPTER I. COUSINS. THE place is StokeviJle, and the time — which is a bad one for the place — is autumn. Even in summer, when Stokeville looks its best, it does not look well. Its long, unlovely streets are for the most part too narrow to admit the full face of the sun. A mill, which looks like a prison, forms one side of them and another mill forms the other side, and in both these prison - like edifices — except when trade is slack or there is a strike — hard labour is incessant. Though there is no VOL. I. I 2 FOR CASH ONLY. brightness anywhere ■ — the thing which ladies put up their parasols and pull down their window-blinds to avoid, and with a contraction of their dainty foreheads call ' glare ' — there is everywhere oppression. There is air, indeed, but it is not from heaven. Quite the reverse. It is the hot breath of the factory which pours out from the open windows on all sides, accompanied by an Infernal clangour — the shrieks of engines apparently in torment. Above Stokeville hangs, as above the Israelites on their march, a pillar of cloud by day and a pillar of fire (from the furnaces of its ironworks) by night. Cotton and iron are the flesh and bone of Stokeville ; and its life-blood is commercial prosperity. Everything to the outward eye Is of man's making or un- making. Nature has been expelled — not 'with a pitchfork,' indeed, but by fire and smoke. The unoccupied spaces which in other towns would be pleasure-grounds, oases of verdure in the desert of brick and COUSINS. 3 mortar, are here mere waste places, of which the gardener can make nothing, and which have been given up to the cinder- sifters. In Stokeville the art of cinder- sifting has been carried to perfection ; and where no cinders can be distributed, on account of elevation or other obstacles, there are smuts. To wash, except on Sunday, is useless ; and, as a substitute perhaps, a large part of the population anoint themselves, or are anointed, with oil. It Is said that they are born white — just as It is averred by some that men are born equal — but the Impression of the be- holder Is to the contrary : at all events, from a very early period, when the juve- nile inhabitants begin to disport themselves in the recreation-grounds aforesaid, they assume the ' local colour.' Attempts have even been made by persons of a widely different complexion (not to say 'whited sepulchres') to paint them black Inside as well as out; but just as when you scratch I — 2 4 FOR CASH ONLY. the Russian you find a Tartar, so when you get below the surface, which is not promis- ing, of the good folks of Stokeville, you come upon that best of soils (though un- known to geologists), True Grit. Indeed, in these 'cinder-heaps,' as Stoke- ville and Its congeners have been contemp- tuously termed, are found certain treasures, such as Honesty and Independence, which have been very foolishly thrown away else- where, as having no market value. In Stokevllle huge fortunes are made (and lost) by the few, and high wages re- ceived by the many ; vile indeed must be the soul of that man who, knowing the place they are earned in and the work that wins them, would grudge them. In winter only is anything quite clean seen out of doors ; namely, a snowstorm on a Sunday. On working-days it passes throueh the smoke, and reaches the earth in tints of ' mitigated mourning ;' but on Sundays if a flake is caught by a Stokeville COUSINS. 5 child ia transitu, and before it settles, the novelty entrances him : ' Why, here's a bit o' cotton frozen !' The merchant princes of Stokeville can command all the luxuries of the earth ; but what is in other places thought a necessary, namely, fresh air, they can not get. It is, however, agreed upon to Ignore this fact. They dwell in palaces of ebony, and call them alabaster. They import trees and plant them, and talk of them as if they grew; the leaves wither and the branches shrivel {' Air, air,' they murmur, ' this is smoke ; bah ! worse, it's soda'), but their owners regard them with complacency; 'Our plan- tation,' they say, ' is getting on nicely.' Indeed, next summer it looks as well as ever ; the fact is, they have imported more trees, but It is the local courtesy adopted by every well-bred visitor (and the Stokeville magnates are hospitality Itself) to believe them to be the old ones. The vain struggle for existence on the part of the poor trees 6 FOR CASH ONLY. is pitiful to witness ; one longs to put them in the great conservatories (where, strange to say, foreign products are here 'pro- tected') out of the smoke and smuts. The flowers, however, whether from their humi- lity or from their making no pretence of a long life, do pretty well, and likewise the grass — only you must not sit upon it in white trousers. In a garden well walled in, you might fancy yourself, I won't say in the country, but a dozen miles from Stokeville, whereas you are perhaps only three. Such a garden I have now in my mind's eye. It is not a large one, but it is beauti- fully kept, or, as one might almost put it in respect to external influences, preserved from decay. For, as we have said, autumn is a bad season for Stokeville. The sum- mer is over, the leaves of the alien trees begin to fall, and in the absence of the sun the fogs already make their appearance, as shady folks will do when undeterred by the policeman's bull's-eye. COUSINS. 7 On the lawn, however, at Oak Villa (so called from quite a patriarchal specimen of that tree, which had braved smoke and soda for nearly six years) not a dead leaf was to be seen. The grass was green and smooth, the trim parterres were aglow with flowers. Mr. Lyster, the proprietor of Oak Villa, had many things therein to boast of : grace- ful statues, charming pictures, and furniture as elegant as it was costly, but he w^as only proud of his garden. Sir Peter Fibbert (of Fibbert and Lyster) had a bigger one, just as he had higher statues, larger pictures., and more massive furniture^ — ^but in beauty it yielded the palm to the garden of his junior partner. As Sir Peter said, with his somewhat pompous courtesy, 'No gardener could have brought the place to such a pitch of perfection ; it was only the exqui- site taste and solicitude of Miss Clare, the Eve of this miniature Eden, which kept matters in such a — such a ' here the language of compliment failed the worthy 8 FOR CASH ONLY. knight, and had to be supplemented by that of commercial life — ' such an A i con- dition.' Clare was in the garden now, pacing the gravel-walk with her cousin Herbert, a young man of three-and-twenty, and two years her senior. A remarkable girl to look at, and well worthy of attention. At the first glance at her close-cut hair, and resolute, handsome face, you might say, ' How masculine !' The voice, too, though gentle, has just now a certain decision un- usual in one of her sex and age, which increases this impression. But in reality it is the short hair only (the consequence of a recent illness) which produces this effect ; you associate it with the genus boy, and the rest follows. The effect, to men at least, was very pleasing ; perhaps she re- minded them of Shakespeare's Rosalind. Her eyes, of that patient grey which one somehow associates with cheerful endu- rance ; her hair, a glossy brown. Not very COUSINS. 9 promising materials for beauty, one would say, yet the cunning hand of nature (which lays its blues and greens together as artists dare not, and paints the rainbow without gaudiness) had so combined them in her as to witch all (male) beholders. Herbert Newton, as he moves now before us with firm step and hands behind him — an attitude with him indicative of thought — is not, one would say, an individual easily subject to enchantment. For so young a man he has a grave and earnest air (albeit the blue eyes which are now so steadfast are wont to twinkle with humour, and the brown face that is now so serious to ripple over with smiles), and yet, if you watch him closely, you will perceive he is under the spell. His eyes never leave his companion, who for the most part averts her gaze from him, though ever and anon, when her speech is more earnest than usual, it meets his own, resolutely enough ; his voice. lo FOR CASH ONLY. though calm and distinct, is freighted with feehng, if not with passion, and his Hps are pale. ' Then you have nothing more to say, Clare ?' said he presently, after a little pause. * Nothing, cousin, except to express to you my most earnest and kindest wishes' — it was plain she was picking her words — 'for your success in the new walk of life you have chosen for yourself.' * Partly chosen for myself, Clare, I allow,' he put in gently, ' but also partly — that is, there are other circumstances which have led me to leave your father's firm.' * Of course, I know that you dislike Percy.' ' Percy !' It is impossible to convey in words the contemptuous indifference with which that word was echoed. ' I do not admire that gentleman, I confess, Clare ; but not twenty Percys would have induced me to take my present step, had I been COUSINS. II Otherwise disinclined for it. In three months, or less, I shall sail for South America.' ' South America !' exclaimed the girl in astonishment, and even alarm. * You never told me that. Oh, Herbert, why do you go so far away ?' ' What does it matter ?' he answered, bitterly. ' Who cares whether I am near or far ?' ' But I thought,' she answered, without taking notice of this last outburst, ' you were going to Coalborough, to the Railway Works.' ' I remain there till the end of the year only, when I am promised an appointment at Rio.' ' What appointment ?' ' I scarcely know. Acting-assistant- deputy-engineer to some railway one has never heard of. I shall do there as well as anywhere, they tell me however, and that's quite true.' 12 FOR CASH ONLY, ' But with your talents — nay, genius,' she pleaded, still ignoring his bitter tone, ' it is throwing yourself away, Herbert. Papa can surely find you something better nearer home.' * Home ? To me one home is as good as another ; that is, all places have become equally indifferent to me.' ' You pain me very much with your wild words,' she murmured. ' Forgive me ; I did not know I had the power to pain you, or I would not have done it. It is curious,' he went on, as if to himself; ' stone and steel will melt, iron can be moulded to our will like clay, but a woman's heart, once bent on her own destruction, nothing can turn.' ' That is ungenerous and unlike yourself, Herbert,' she answered calmly. ' Do not abuse the absent even by implication. A woman's heart is not to be turned that way.' ' True ; I was wrong there,' he answered COUSINS, 13 cynically ; ' it was an error in judg- ment.' ' It was worse than that, Herbert,' she .continued gravely. ' You are by nature a just man ; it is unreasonable, unjust, and tyrannous to be angry with me because — because — I make my own choice.' He threw his hand out with an impatient gesture. ' No, Clare, you do me wrong. I am not angry with you. But you talked just now of throwing one's self away.' * I will talk no more of it, no, nor listen to it,' she interrupted, with a quick flush. ' Come, cousin, we used to be friends.' ' We did, we are,' he answered, taking her proffered hand, pressing it gendy. ' I will never so offend again. Until you say with your own lips, "I was wrong, Herbert; you knew that man better than I did," I will never say another word against him.' It was very characteristic of the speaker that, out of mere steadfastness and perse- 14 FOR CASH ONLY. verance, he thus involuntarily repeated his offence even while begging pardon. Clare, however, understood him thoroughly. ' I can trust your word, I know, Herbert,' said she simply. Then, dropping her voice, not from fear of being overheard, though all the sitting-room windows of the house were open, making it look one ear, and with her eyes grown very soft and pitiful, * How do you think dear papa is looking to-day ?' ' He looked to me much the same, Clare; I wish I could see him better. He spoke less despondently of himself, however ; indeed, much less.' ' You noticed that, did you ?' she an- swered quickly. ' Yes, it is very curious that while to all appearance dear papa grows no better, he has, of late, taken more cheerful views of himself.' ' Let us hope he feels himself better.' She shook her head. ' You know what Dr. Dickson said COUSINS. 15 about him. It was, In fact, a sentence of death.' The tears began to stream slowly down her cheeks, but she wiped them away hurriedly. It was not her way to exhibit strong emotion before others. ' Doctors are very fallible,' observed her companion gently. ' But dear papa has wasted so. Did it strike you, Herbert,' she continued, after a long pause, ' that despite his cheerfulness he seems anxious — worried — I don't mean about his health T He shook his head. ' Well, he is so. You are sure there Is no cause which would affect a man like dear papa ? Are things going prosperously at the mill ?' ' Never abetter. There has been a long depression, but trade has revived. Fibbert and Lyster are having golden days. No one,' he added, with a pleasant smile, ' can say I am the rat that leaves the sinking ship.' i6 FOR CASH ONLY. ' If she were sinking you would stay by her to the last plank,' said Clare, not as though she were making a compliment or pronouncing an eulogy, but as one who states a fact. Her reply, Indeed, was almost a matter of course, for she had something else upon her mind. * Mllly was singing " The Queen of the May " the other day,' she continued ; ' when she sang '' I thought to pass away before," papa whispered to me, " That Is my case ; I feared that I should never see the year out. Now, please God, I shall, my dear." Was not that strange, Bertie ?' ' Yes,' he answered, with a quick, search- ing glance at his companion ; but her face wore only that sad pained look which Is the shadow of a coming bereavement. * She does not know,' he thought to him- self ; ' It Is better so.' * If nothing Is amiss with business matters,' continued Clare, ' as I had almost wished was the case, it must be something COUSINS. 17 worse. Do you think ' — here she sank her voice almost to a whisper — ' that papa frets about Gerald ?' * No, I do not. He does not know enough about Gerald's affairs to fret about them.' ' That is a bad reason indeed,' sighed Clare. *And I don't think his heart is much bound up with Gerald.' Clare sighed more deeply still, as though she would have said, ' That is a sadder reason even than the other.' ' For my part I cannot blame your father,' continued Herbert, replying to her unspoken thought. ' Having done his best for the lad, he hopes for the best, though perhaps he does not expect it.' ' But poor Gerald has been left to him- self a great deal.' * My dear Clare, in Stokeville we are all left to ourselves pretty early. To my mind there is no worse cant than that VOL. I. 2 i8 FOR CASH ONLY, which throws the blame which we our- selves deserve upon the shoulders of our parents and guardians. Education is an- other scapegoat. As a matter of fact, beyond reading, writing, and arithmetic, a man educates himself; you cannot dose him with learning as you stuff chickens ; If It is against the grain, he remains for ever an ignoramus.' * I have heard you say, too, you think there Is nothing in heredity.' * Certainly. It is a mere excuse for vice and Idleness. That is ' — here he began to hesitate and stammer — ' I am speaking generally, of course. There may be cases — there are — where the circumstances and sorroundlngs of a man, his natural con- nections, and so on, handicap him very heavily.' * Yes, I feel that,' interrupted Clare quietly. ' There are great excuses for poor Gerald, though I own he has grievous faults. That is another reason — you will COUSINS, 19 say a selfish one — why I regret you are leaving your present employment. My brother will now lose his best adviser.' ' Your half-brother,' observed her com- panion, in quiet correction. * Herbert, why do you say that ?' she inquired, with a quick flush. ' Of course, he is only my half-brother ; but is there any reason beyond those with which I am acquainted — -why — why — I have cause to .be ashamed of him V Her companion was silent for a little, then answered slowly : ' No ; no particular reason.' * That means you have a general distrust of him. Well, you and Gerald, it must be remembered,' she said with an air of re- flection, ' are of widely different tem- peraments and dispositions.' * Yes ; he has doubtless temptations where I feel none. Moreover, if I were to be quite frank and honest, I should, I 20 FOR CASH ONLY. think, acknowledge to myself that I am prone to exaggerate his shortcomings.'. * Why on earth should you be so un- charitable ?' He thought a moment what he should say. He could not tell her his real reason, which was, in brief, that he so honoured and revered her that he resented the re- lationship to herself of one who was un- worthy of her. ' I suppose,' he said, with a smile, ' it is for the reason given in Hudibras ; our temptations, as I have said, are different, and we '* compound for sins we are inclined to, by damning those we have no mind to," and the sinner also. However, as to Gerald's having an adviser in myself, Clare, you are mistaken. I have no influ- ence over him.' * Then I am afraid no one has,' sighed Clare. * Yes; one person has ; the more's the pity.' Fortunately Clare did not hear him ; her COUSINS. 21 eyes within the last few seconds had taken a brighter tint, her face a warmer flush ; it was plain that her thoughts had suddenly become attracted elsewhere. ' Look ! papa is coming out in his wheeled chair, Herbert.' ' Yes,' said the other quietly ; ' and Percy is with him.' ' Why, how did you guess that, since you have not turned your head ?' * I did not guess it ; I read it in your face as in a looking-glass. As I have already seen my uncle, I will now take my leave. Good-day, cousin.' She returned his ' good-day,' and shook his hand, as he passed quickly out through the garden-gate ; but he felt she was not thinkino^ of what she did. It was the same sort of perfunctory attention which, when we are identifying our luggage on the railway platform, we pay to a friend who passes by ; we throw him a 'How d'ye do,' but our soul is with our portmanteau. CHAPTER 11. A FAMILY PARTY. HERBERT NEWTON'S sagacity, or intuition, had not deceived him. Not only was Mr. Lyster coming in his wheeled chair as usual, but Percy Fibbert was pushing it. Beside them sauntered a lad of seventeen or so, smoking an excel- lent cigar. As Percy is almost concealed by the chair and the head of the invalid, we will describe the others first. Mr. Lyster is so covered up with shawls and wraps that nothing is discernible of him but his thin face, but that is very re- markable. It Is the face of a man pre- maturely old, and lined with thought A FAMILY PARTY. 23 rather than with years. A few months ago, indeed, his hair, which is still plentiful, and worn much longer than his daughter's (which gives him a patriarchal look), was brown as her own; it is now white as snow. The features would strike a physiognomist not so much by their sharpness as their haggard expression. His hands, which he pushes nervously in and out from the shawls, are as white as his face, and even more emaciated. His eyes are bright and restless. His smile — for he is smiling now, as he meets his daughter's eye — is transient and more eloquent of pain than another's sigh. But there are the relics of a hand- some man about him. In recoenislnof them. It Is difficult to persuade one's self that the boy Gerald by his side is his own son. A tall, shambling, thread-paper youth, with hay-coloured hair, and of a colourless complexion. His eyes are blue, but it Is difficult to catch their tint, for they are shifty and averse to meet 24 FOR CASH ONLY, those of others. He has that studiously indifferent expression which is ' the mode ' in aristocratic circles, but which in his par- ticular case Is very unbecoming. It makes him appear not so much like a member of the 'upper ten' as of a gentleman in trouble before the magistrate, whom he is endeavouring to convince in vain of the pre- posterousness of some accusation brought against him. But though Ill-looking, he is by no means uncomely, in a mere physical sense. When he smiles, albeit that is not often, his face has a certain feminine attrac- tion, which, however, lacks the gentleness that belongs to a woman. His mother was the beauty of Stokevllle ; a mill-hand. That infatuation of Mr. Lyster's was in the view of his brother manufacturers (or, rather, their wives) an inexpiable offence ; ' but most fortunately,' as everyone ex- pressed It, the second Mrs. Lyster {nde Chigwell) died in giving birth to her first A FAMILY PARTY. 25 child. The cloud under which her husband had been placed for nearly a twelvemonth in consequence of this indiscretion was thereupon withdrawn ; and he was once more received into the bosom of Stokeville society. But the affair had left its conse- quences, of which the chief, of course, was Gerald. Percy Fibbert, his senior by seven years, is a very different specimen of humanity ; he is not quite so tall as the overgrown stripling, but his height is above the average, while every limb is in exact pro- portion. His features are so regular, his complexion so delicate, his hair so black and plentiful, that his style of beauty (for he is very handsome) would perhaps remind you of those paragons seen in hair- dressers' windows, but for his large dark eyes, which are full of expression. Just now there is more colour than usual in his face, for the occupation in which he has been engaged has brought the blood Into 26 FOR CASH ONLY. it ; but though the chair is heavy, it has not affected his lungs, which are in first-rate condition. As the little procession came up to where Clare stood, ' I cannot offer you my hand,' he said, with a light smile, ' for the best of reasons, because it is already en- gaged.' On the invalid's forehead, unseen by the speaker, gathered at this pleasantry a heavy frown ; while Clare, who perceived it very well, became suffused with blushes. Gerald, who noticed both these 'effects,' indulged in an odious cachinnation. * My dear Gerald,' said Percy reprov- ingly, ' " the swan," says the poet, '' is born to be the only graceful shape of scorn;'' and, in like manner, though vice ver'sd, you must allow me to observe that the only objec- tionable form of merriment is the sni^^er.' ' That is quite true,' observed the invalid pettishly. * Why don't you laugh outright, in a wholesome way, like your cousin Bertie ?' 'Well, really, Mr. Lyster,' remonstrated A FAMILY PARTY. 27 Percy, ' don't you think that's going a Httle too far in the other direction ? To my mind, Newton laughs just as one is obliged to speak in the mill, on account of the machinery ; he laughs like that bird in Australia — what's its name ? — that one can hear all over the bush.' Clare drew herself up displeased, for she understood the allusion : fortunately, per- haps, for the speaker, Mr. Lyster knew no more than his son, the ignoramus, about the ' Laughing Jackass,' but he observed with earnestness : * For my part I like to hear Bertie laugh ; it does me good.' ' Then I w^ish he was always here to laugh to you, papa,' said Clare, with earnest tenderness. ' Ah, but he will not be here,' answered the invalid complainingly. ' He is going away at the year's end. Not that that will matter to me' he added, in muttered solilo- quy. Then louder, ' I cannot understand why he leaves the mill' 28 FOR CASH ONLY. * Well, Newton, you see, sir, is a man of science like his namesake,' observed Percy, in a tone so soft and respectful that had it not been for the contemptuous expression of his eyes, still concealed from the other, it might well have been taken for earnest ; ' we at the mill are too grovelling for him.' ' There is something In that,' assented the invalid naively. Whereat Gerald sniggered again, not, it must be confessed (for Percy's discomfiture was obvious), without some provocation. ' No man of his age has ever been so useful to us,' continued the Invalid re- flectively. ' That Invention of his for stamping the pieces ought to have been patented. He had a great future before him, if he had only stuck to us. Your uncle, I am sure, Percy, would have been only too glad to take him into partnership next year.' ' I hardly think next year, sir,' returned the young man significantly. A FAMILY PARTY. 29 * You mean because in all probability it will be exceptionally profitable ?' ' It will be the very best of all years I have little doubt, sir.' ' You think so ? Well, of course, you are in a position to judge. That is also quite my view.' The tone of the speaker was peculiar ; it was cheerful, as the subject seemed to demand, yet more excited than cheerful. His pale cheeks were iiushed, but his eyes were less eager than anxious. Suddenly he appeared to become aware of this, perhaps from the solicitude he saw ex- pressed in his daughter's face, and breaking off from the topic, returned to that of his nephew. * If Herbert had only stopped with us, fortune would have been assured to him.' M don't think|he cares for fortune, sir,' said Percy, his face this time compelled to be as serious as his words, ' so much as for fame.' 30 FOR CASH ONLY. ' A bubble !' ejaculated the Invalid. ' That is my humble opinion too, sir ; but Newton is always in the clouds. There was that balloon of his, for instance. The steering apparatus was a most brilliant idea, no doubt ; but there is, unhappily, the law of gravity.' In Ignorance, or despite, of the law In question, here Gerald sniggered again. ' By Jingo, to see him come down,' he said, * a thousand feet to the second or so !' ' He was not up a thousand feet, nor a hundred,' observed the invalid curtly. ' Gerald only means the rate, sir,' ex- plained Percy apologetically ; ' he really did come down rather quick. Did he not, Clare ?' ' Don't speak of it, Percy ; It makes me sick to think of it,' answered the young lady, with a shudder. ' He had the courage of his opinions, at all events,' observed Mr. Lyster. A FAMILY PARTY, 31 ' So had Icarus,' commented Percy, 'but he was not thought better of — by aero- nauts — on that account. The general opinion is, I am afraid, that his was a very foolhardy experiment.' ' It is not necessary to use such strong expressions, Percy,' observed Mr. Lyster ; * let us be content to say it was injudi- cious.' ' I was not referring to Newton, but to Icarus,' explained the offender. ' I should certainly not dream of applying so offensive an epithet as '' foolhardy " to your nephew, and Clare's cousin.' 'And a very worthy young fellow,' ob- served the invalid with a glance at his daughter, whose eyes, however, it almost seemed by design, had sought the ground. ' No doubt,' assented Percy. ' It is the more to be regretted that he should have risked his life in so hazardous a manner. If he has a fault, it Is riskiness ; while his confidence in his own talents — generally, 32 FOR CASH ONLY. no doubt, amply justified — makes him in- different to the opinions of others. In that particular instance of which we are speaking, for example, he was within an ace of what everybody told him he would do— breaking his neck.' * I have owned that it was injudicious,* said the invalid tartly. * And don't you think it is injudicious of yoit, dear papa,' observed Clare gently, ' to be out of doors to-day ? The wind is quite autumnal.' * No, my dear, I am better — better,' re- turned the invalid. ' For the last few days I have gone out every day, remem- ber.' ' Yes, papa, but was it wise .^ Dr. Dick- son says ' * I know my own feelings better than Dr. Dickson,' he interrupted petulantly, ' and must be allowed to judge for myself. At the same time, Percy ' — here he turned for the first time to his young friend and A FAMILY PARTY, 33 junior partner — ' It may be some time — indeed It is doubtful whether I shall ever be at the office again. And I should like to see the books.' ' The books, sir !' exclaimed the other, in astonishment. ' Do you mean the ac- counts of the firm ? Then they must be sent on a trolly.' ' No, no,' returned the Invalid, taking no notice of this sally. ' I only meant the returns for the last few months ; since things have begun to mend.' * Very good, sir ; you shall have them. Newton Is for science, Clare is for litera- ture. ''Are red-lined accounts," she asks contemptuously, " richer than the songs of Grecian years ?" but you and I, we are simple matter-of-fact people. I venture to think that you will find the books of Fibbert and Lyster — at all events their later ones — very pleasant reading.' Mr. Percy Fibbert had certainly a great charm of manner ; he had an airy way of VOL. I. 3 34 .FOR CASH ONLY. putting things, even when they were not Intrinsically agreeable, that made them palatable. That he could make himself very pleasant was agreed upon all hands — ^ except the mill-hands : perhaps the coarse- ness of their natures incapacitated them from appreciating his lively sallies, his deli- cate satire ; or perhaps, as some uncharit- able people averred, he did not lay himself out to please common people. For though very popular in the Stokeville drawing- rooms, and, on the whole, even liked in the pool-room of the local club, by the young men of his own rank, the mill-hands did not like him. They said, ' Percy ' (in Stokeville workpeople don't say Mr.), ' Percy is a time-server.' CHAPTER III. AX INDEPENDENT OPINION. IN Stokeville, the value of each member of the local aristocracy was expressed (or understood) in figures ; and none of them were under ^30,000. Those who had less than that sum might be ' rising men,' who would eventually take their place in the front rank of society ; but in the meantime were considered what our American cousins call 'small potatoes,' or ' one-horse concerns.' Indeed, unless you had at least a hundred thousand pounds you were not entitled to be termed ' warm ' at all, but were merely tepid. But about Sir Peter Fibbert's warmth there could be 36 FOR CASH ONLY, no manner of doubt. He was a merchant prince of the highest class, and though his dominions, superficially speaking, were not extensive, he counted his subjects by the thousand. With such an amount of caloric about him, it was of course impossible that his partner, Mr. Lyster, should not share in it. It is true the firm had been suffer- ing for a long time from the depression in trade, during which it might well have been that while the senior partner could live, like the bear, by sucking his paws — tliat is to say, upon the interest of his own savings — the junior partners might have been put to straits and had to rough it, though not exactly on beans and bacon ; but so far as Mr. Lyster was concerned, a prudent man to all appearance who lived in ' a bijou residence ' (as Oak Villa was termed by the auctioneer who sold it to him), and affected comfort and elegance rather than grandeur, it was understood that he would * cut up ' when the time AN INDEPENDENT OPINION, 37 came (and the time was undoubtedly near) remarkably well. As to how he would leave his money there were different opinions ; but it was certain that Clare would come in for the lion's share of it. This, it was considered by everybody, was but just ; for it was with her mother's money that her father had joined partnership with Sir Peter, then Mr. Fibbert ; whereas, from Gerald's mother, the mill-hand, nothing of course had accrued to him but Gerald. More- over it was probable (though not so certain as it would have been, thanks to the young gentleman's own shortcomings) that the latter would himself in due time become a member of the firm, and by that means be amply provided for. It was the general opinion, therefore, especially when the present activity of the cotton trade was taken into account, that Clare Lyster would be very wealthy ; what was con- sidered, even in Stokeville circles, an heiress. 38 FOR CASH ONLY. * It was no wonder, then,' said the young ladles of the locality, ' that though she was so unfortunately masculine in her appearance, and expressed opinions which, to say the least, were '' peculiar," Clare had many suitors.' Of these Frank Farrer, son of Sir John Farrer, the county member, had been per- haps the most eligible, and Herbert New- ton the least. I am quoting what the young ladies said, for certainly so far as Herbert was concerned, he had never pro- fessed anything beyond respect and ad- miration for his cousin. He had only ten thousand in ' the business,' placed there by favour of Mr. Lyster, and could hardly (one would hope), being, too, of a scientific turn, have given reins to his Imagination to the extent he was credited with. But whoever had once aspired to the honour of Clare's hand, they were now, it was well understood, all out of the running ; for the man that had won It, or the pro- mise of it, was Percy Fibber t. AN INDEPENDENT OPINION 39 That it was a good match in a material sense, even for. her, there was little doubt, for not only was Percy already a partner in the firm, but had great expectations from his uncle. With his daughter's fortune thus assured to her, and with the consciousness of his own prosperity, one can scarcely imagine Mr. Lyster's mind could be troubled about money matters. Indeed, to some folks (who do not, however, live in Stokeville) it might have seemed strange, how, under present circumstances, with his lease of life admitted to be growing very short, he should interest^himself in them at all. They might have thought that the Book of the Recording Angel, so soon to be offered to his attention, would have occupied it in anticipation, rather than the returns, how- ever gratifying to those who might hope to benefit by them, of the house of Fibbert and Lyster. It is on these latter documents, however, 40 . FOR CASH ONLY. that Mr. Lyster Is now pondering alone In his study, and It Is with eager satisfaction that he peruses them. They reveal an un- precedented prosperity even as matters stand ; and for the rest of the year and the year to come, If only this revival of trade should last, promise a golden harvest : * wealth,' as one who had no personal ex- perience of Its possession expresses It with some simplicity, ' beyond the dreams of avarice.' What avarice may dream, thank Heaven I know not ; but the expectations of rich men, even when they are no misers, I have noticed are not easily satisfied. From one point of view — the clergyman's — the occupation In w^hlch our Invalid Is engaged was undoubtedly deplorable. He Is thinking of the future, it Is true, but by no means of eternity. Just fifteen months — not one quarter of which he can reason- ably hope to see — Is the limit of his mental horizon. If the tide of trade Is still at AN INDEPENDEXT OPIXIOX. \\ flow, his share of profits for that period will be, he reckons, a hundred thousand pounds. The idea of this huge fortune so possesses him, that with trembling fingers he makes a note of it in black and white — ' One Hundred Thousand Pounds.' * The ruling passion strong in death,' is the remark that naturally rises to our lips. ' This man,' one says, ' must certainly be a miser.' Far from it ; Charles Lyster has been all his life a free-handed man. He has not, it is true, been notorious, as his partner Sir Peter has been, for philanthropic enter- prise ; he has founded no museum, built no institute, given no free library, laid out no public parks ; but he has given, whenever he has been asked to do so, without stint, and has neither denied himself, nor those belonging to him, whatever in the way of comfort and luxury has seemed suitable to their position. Indeed, as his second marriaofe bore witness, he has been on the 42 FOR CASH ONLY, whole an impulsive rather than a calcu- lating man. Nor is he now, though taking so much thought of money's-worth and full of anticipations of gain, calculating for himself. To my mind, at least, this goes far to excuse his present occupation and frame of mind. To see an old man, with one leg in the grave, rich in this world's goods, yet with his eyes fixed on personal greed, is a spectacle so disgusting that it does not admit of pity ; but provided that we have not hardened our heart, nor closed our hand, against our fellow-creatures at large, there is no harm in our taking pleasure in the autumn of our years in laying up store for those dear and near to us. Indeed (to confess the whole truth) in many cases there is lltde else left for an old man in the way of pleasure than the contemplation of his own honest gains. * What do you do with your money ?' was a question once addressed with great AN INDEPENDENT OPINION. 43 irritation of a cheerful old millionaire, who, I am afraid, had declined to subscribe to some missionary enterprise. * Sir, I roll in it,' was the frank rejoinder ; and though I have never had the least experience of the pleasure derived from that exercise, I can imagine It to be considerable. When I hear of a miser being put out of the way, it moves me little more (unless the crime is attended with circumstances of cruelty, which are never excusable) than the shoot- ing of a mad dog ; but I have no objection to rich old men, who are also very good fellows, taking pleasure in their possession of property to the very last. The sun and the moon and the stars, as the sacred poet tells us, are darkened to them ; the daughters of music can soothe them no longer ; the grasshopper is a burthen, and desire has failed ; and who would grudge them the satisfaction derived from reflecting on that reward of their life's toil, which is to make life easy to those who come after them ? 4+ FOR CASH ONLY. On Mr. Lyster's face however, the pleasure evoked by the sight of that unit and five noughts has passed away ; he has placed that little memorandum, of future profits in a drawer in his desk, and devoted his attention to two documents of another kind which he finds there, and which are by no means of such an exhilarating character. They are the copy of the deed of partnership between himself and Sir Peter, and his will. The former he knows almost by heart, yet he reads it again word by word very carefully : the latter, though its details are not so familiar to him, he peruses with less attention. There is nothing to be added to it nor removed from it ; it still represents, as it did twelve months ago, his last wishes. Yet he sighs, not as one who has relieved his mind from earthly cares, but wearily, almost hope- lessly, as he puts them, back in the drawer and locks it. The books of the firm he lifts with difficulty, one by one, and piles AN INDEPENDENT OPINION, 45 them up with characteristic neatness, to be returned by a trusty messenger the next morning. Surely now all is done with this world's affairs and he need take no further heed about them ; yet he sits with his elbows on the desk, his face pressed in his hands, weighty with a load of thought and care. There is a gentle knock at the door, but though old age has not yet dulled his hear- ing, he hears it not. It is repeated ; the handle of the door is turned, but in vain, for it is locked, and a Q^entle voice with 5ome tremor of alarm in it says : ' Tea, papa ; will you have it here or in the drawing-room T * In the drawing-room,' he replies with .an effort that sets him coughing ; he does not move, however, but from the desk takes out a hand-glass, and contemplates in it his own sharp and bloodless features. * Death is written here,' he murmurs. * I •cannot deceive myself, then how much less 46 FOR CASH ONLY. Others ? Nor do I wish to deceive them. God forbid that in my last days I should begin to take advantage of any man. I may be taking too gloomy a view of the case, however ; let those who should know best decide that. I will give myself the chance at all events ; and I must do It at once.' As he was about to put the mirror in his desk, his eyes lit upon a photograph lying in it. The portrait of a very handsome young man apparently full of health and strength. ' To look on this picture and on that !' he groaned with a glance at the reflection of his own countenance. ' To think that that was me, and this is me !' The mystery of youth and age, of strength and decay, for the moment seemed to overwhelm him ; he was a man, though steadfast in the face of commercial peril, unused to philosophic thought of any kind; a bad debt he could contemplate with AN INDEPENDENT OPINION, 47 Stoicism, and he had on one occasion stood on the brink of ruin and looked down into the abyss with a clear head ; but the con- templation of this material change between Now and Then unmanned him quite. In a moment or two, however, he recovered himself. * Great heaven ! how it all goes !' he ex- claimed bitterly, as he put the picture by. * What would I give to look like that next Thursday. Unhappily I shall look like this', and he returned the mirror with a sigh. * Papa dear, the tea is getting cold.' ' I am coming, darling.' The voice of his daughter seemed to revive him ; perhaps it reminded him that though ill and old there was still something left to him, and that if his own strength and beauty were gone he had transmitted them to another. He moved feebly to the door, which, contrary to his usual custom, he had 48 FOR CASH ONLY, secured ; but when on the other side of It, affected something of activity. * Your step is brisker, papa, this evening,' observed Clare, as he entered the drawing- room. The invalid, how^ever, Is not sorry to find himself In his chair, w^hither Clare brings his cup. ' Where Is Gerald ?' * He is out to-night,' she answers cheer- fully ; as though it was unusual for her half-brother not to be taking tea at home. ' I dare say he has gone down to the club.' By the expression of Mr. Lyster's face one would have said that he had grave doubts of the young gentleman's having sought that sanctuary, but he made no remark upon the point. * It Is just as well we are alone, Clare ; as I wish to talk to you upon a private matter.' ' Indeed, dear papa : what Is It ?' AN INDEPENDENT OPINION 49 She had put her work away in a moment, and drawn her chair close to his. * Well, it is not that I am not perfectly- satisfied with Dr. Dickson, but I think I shall have further advice.' * I am delighted to hear it ; it is the very thing, dear papa, which Dr. Dickson himself has always wished. He has no doubt, he says, of the nature of your illness, nor of the correctness of his treatment ; but for all that it would be more satisfactory — that was the very term he used — to have a second opinion.' ' Yes, my dear, but the opinion should be an independent one. If there is a con- sultation, as Dickson would propose, it is after all only Dickson over again, i)lus somebody else. No physician ever finds fault with another physician's treatment. So I shall have a man from London all to myself, Dickson is not one to be huffy.' * The last man in the world, papa ; VOL. I. 4 50 FOR CASH ONLY. though, if he were, I should still say, Please yourself. It is a matter in which no one has any right to interfere, and for my part I am very glad.' * You think folks are more sanguine in London than in Stokeville, do you, my child ?' he answered, with a smile. ' You must not think that, because you will be disappointed. It is not possible, I am well aware, that I should be cured, hut the man I have in my mind may do some- thing perhaps to prolong my life. I should dearly like, Clare, to be a little longer with you/ She often thought afterwards of the tone in which her father spoke those words. They were not merely earnest and affectionate, they expressed a yearning so intense that it thrilled through and through her. She seemed never to have guessed before how her father loved her. * And Clare,' he continued, * I don't want anyone to know of this. I don't mean AN INDEPENDENT OPINION, 51 Dickson only, but anybody. I am going to fix Thursday for the man's visit — Dr. Bell, his name is — because that is Gerald's day for going to Middleton, so that we shall be quite alone.' Nothing more was said upon the matter, though much was thought about it by both of them — each in their own fashion ; as to Mr. Lyster, we shall presently be able to guess at the nature of his reflections ; but among those which occurred to Clare came, unbidden, the remembrance of what dear old Miss Darall, her mother's friend and hers, had once observed to her apropos of her father's second marriage : ' Nothing, of course, could be less ex- pected, my dear ; but it did not take me by surprise ; nor did I blame him for the secrecy with which the matter was carried on, as others did. My conviction is, your dear father has never asked any human being for advice in his life ; his character is an unusual combination of qualities ; he 4—2 LIBRARY UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS 52 FOR CASH ONLY. is at once impulsive and secretive. If he ever tells you of anything he has made up his mind to do, it will be because he can't help it.' And somehow it struck Clare that her father would not have made her a con- fidante of this visit of Dr. Bell, of Lon- don, though it was on a matter that con- cerned her so nearly, if it could have taken place without her knowledge. CHAPTER IV. THE DOCTOR FROM LONDON. DR. BELL, of London, was a most re- spectable physician, filling a highly responsible medical post, and possessed of a fair practice ; but among other Dr. Bells he was not the chief. He was not a spe- cialist — one of those who has made the upper joint of the thumb, or the lobe of the left ear, his peculiar study — but a mere general practitioner. He was conscious, of course, of merit, like other members of his learned profession, and had a vague notion, entertained by most of us, that the said merit had not been fully appreciated ; but that summons to Stokeville, two or 54 FOR CASH ONLY. three hundred miles from London, took him considerably by surprise. Ten miles out of town had hitherto been the limit of his professional radius; and even in such cases he had only been sent for to old patients who had migrated to the suburbs. He was almost afraid that there was some mistake when he received that letter from Oak Villa from Mr. Lyster, marked ' Pri- vate and confidential.' The contents were very brief, and merely informed him that the writer was desirous of obtaining his professional opinion about his case, one of incipient consumption ; and that if he could make it convenient to come by the morning express to Stokeville, on Thursday, the writer's carriage would meet him at the station, and convey him thither in time for his return by the six o'clock up-train. It was a very business-like letter, which gave him confidence in its genuineness, but just at first he was inclined to think that the patient's complaint might have been THE DOCTOR FROM LONDON. 55 Incipient madness Instead of incipient con- sumption. It also struck him that the letter might have been mis-sent to him, and been intended for Dr. Bell in the next square, who had been sent for to Scotland on certain occasions, to the great disgust of the physicians of the modern Athens. Not one word of these suspicions, however, did he breathe even to the wife of his bosom, but sat down at once to inform his corre- spondent that he had little doubt he could so arrange his professional engagements as to admit of his coming to Stokeville on the day appointed. The interval he spent mainly in gleaning the opinion of his pro- fessional brethren — to whom he casually mentioned he had an important case in Slagshire — as to how much it would be ad- visable to charge per mile. He was a tall, stout gentleman, with an aquiline nose bestridden by gold spectacles, and with an air of cheerful sagacity calculated to inspire confidence in any patient not absolutely 56 FOR CASH ONLY, moribund ; a sort of doctor, in short, whom, for my part, I Hke. As he had never been to Slagshire on business, we may be sure it was new to him, for no one in their right minds (except foreign princes who are escorted thither to be instructed in British commercial enter- prise, and come back exceedingly dazed and bewildered) ever go there for pleasure. ' Why, bless my soul, we shall have some thunder !' was the observation he made to himself many times on his journey, as he looked up at the leaden and murky air ; and when he peeped down from the train into the dark and crowded towns he thought to himself, ' What money these people must be making who find it worth their while to live here !' and secretly re- solved to put an extra threepence on his rate of mileage. This determination was strengthened by the sight of Mr. Lyster's carriage, which was in waiting for him as promised ; a very well-appointed equipage THE DOCTOR FROM LONDON. 57 with a couple of dark bays, which, when they left their stable, had been light bays ; while Oak Villa with its statues and pic- tures so impressed him with a sense of superfluity, that he felt, in justice to his wife and family, he must make that three- pence sixpence. Clare met him in the hall, and, by her father's directions, insisted on his having luncheon before he saw the invalid. ' It is impossible, my dear,' he had said with a smile, ' that a doctor can take a cheerful view of any patient on an empty stomach, and I don't want him to take a dolorous view. If he asks you any ques- tions about me, you must be as sanguine as you can, because despondency reacts you know, upon everybody.' Acting upon this hint, Clare spoke as cheerfully as she could in answer to her visitor's questions, which were very few. She said that her father was ill, and very ill ; but that of late he had seemed in 53 FOR CASH ONLY. better spirits ; and mentioned his having gone out every day that week in his garden-chair. ' Come, that looks well, my dear young lady,' said the doctor kindly (he was hold- ing, however, a glass of Madeira up to the light at the same time) ; ' but the weather Is a little winterly for out of doors, is it not ? I suppose he has the sanction of his medical attendant for such an experiment ?' 'Why, no. That is, I am not quite sure,* hesitated Clare ; for she had an impression that Dr. Dickson had not altogether approved of it. ' Well, well, I shall have the opportunity of conferring with Dr. — Dickson, I think, you said — upon that little point.' ' Dr. Dickson will not be here to-day,' said Clare ; ' he has already paid his visit.' ' But, dear me, that's strange ; is there to be no consultation } How am I to hear what treatment has been hitherto pursued .f*' ' Oh, papa has all that at his fingers' THE DOCTOR FROM LONDON. 59 ends, and the prescriptions, and so on,' answered Clare, a little confusedly ; ' it is not that he is not quite satisfied with his ordinary medical attendant, but he wishes to have the very best advice — as of course he will get in your case— and independent of any other.' The doctor bowed ; he thought Clare not only beautiful, but endowed with great perspicacity. ' I never met with a young woman,' he afterwards remarked, ' so con- spicuous for her intelligence ;' in the pre- sence of such a hostess, the considerations even of professional etiquette lost their im- portance. ' Well, it is not certainly quite usual, my dear young lady ; but under the circum- stances — and since you say my should-be confrere has paid his visit, and in point of fact gone — there is nothing for it but to give way. So if Mr. Lyster is quite ready, and as my time is limited — thank you, I will take just one more glass of that exqui- 6q for cash only, site Madeira ; it is unwholesome, bad for the coats of the — I mean for everything, but it is irresistible. Very good ; I'll follow you.' And the doctor rose with a smack of his lips, so gentle and yet so full of appreciation, that if he had been a clergy- man you would have pronounced it to be a private grace. Mr. Lyster, who was sitting in his study by a small fire, rose to receive his visitor, in spite of the latter's entreaties. ' I am not so bad as that, doctor,' he observed, smiling. ' Clare, my dear, I am afraid you must have made the worst of me.' Then, as soon as doctor and patient were alone together, the former proceeded, after a few questions, to business. It is needless to describe it. Few of us, alas ! are unfamiliar in our persons, or in those dear to us, of the knocking and the thumping at our creaking doors, that take place under such sad circumstances ; THE DOCTOR FROM LONDON. 6i the * Does this hurt you ?' and ' Does that hurt you ?' and the ' Now, draw a deep breath.' To any student of human nature the features of Dr. Bell would have been a curious study, so distinctly could the seriousness with which the case speedily inspired him be seen stealing under that professional smile of encouragement which never left his face. When he had quite completed his investigations, he said, ' Yes.' A most significant monosyllable, which seemed to imply that at one time certain indications had puzzled him, but that now all w^as clear, and the case was at his finger-ends. ' The left lung is gone, as I understand,' said Mr. Lyster quietly. * Well, really, *' gone " is a strong word ; It Is very seriously affected, no doubt. But then one lung is of no great consequence. Men have lived for half a century with one lung.' 62 FOR CASH ONLY. ' But the other ? That is In a bad way too, is it not ?' 'Well, it is far from sound. There is serious damage ; in fact, if I had been called earlier, say six months ago, I should have recommended Madeira — the island, of course,' added Dr. Bell, moved by a recent reminiscence. ' But, as it is, things have gone too far ?' inquired the patient calmly. ' Why, yes. When one considers the voyage, and the leaving home, and the worries.' ' I should die before I left the steamer,' interrupted Mr. Lyster, finishing the sen- tence for him. * So I imagined.' . ' Nay, indeed, I did not say that,' said the doctor soothingly. * You have a good deal of vitality I should say. Even the power of will goes for something in these cases ; and we take things quietly while looking them in the face, I am glad to see. * I know that I am dying, doctor.' The THE DOCTOR FROM LONDON, 63 patient waited for a moment, perhaps in hopes that the other might say something, give even a sign of negation ; but there was an ominous silence. ' Yes, I am quite prepared for that,' he continued ; ' it is not a question of eternity, therefore ' (here there was a flicker of a smile), 'but of time. It is concerning that matter, indeed, that I sent for you. I know it is not probable, but is it possible that I shall live a year ?' 'Well, really, in the classics, you know, some one says — I forget who, but perhaps you can remember ' Mr. Lyster shook his head. It was indeed very unlikely that he should re- member, as he had never read the classics. ' Well, some one says, "No man is so old, but he thinks he may live a year.'" *"So old, yes, but not so ill,' put in the patient bluntly. ^ Now in my particular case ?' * I am afraid, considering the state of the left lung ' 64 FOR CASH ONLY, * Very good, doctor ; I want to know the truth, and I have got it. Now, Instead of a year, let us say six months. Is it possible — again you observe, I don't say probable — that I shall be here six months hence — I mean, of course, above ground ?' * It IS possible. ' * Ah, I see ; it is as bad as that, then } Now, once more. Dr. Bell, if you are not tired of these childish questions ; they remind one of a barrister with his victim in the witness-box : " Will you swear it wasn't ten minutes ? will you swear it wasn't five minutes ? will you swear It wasn't four minutes and a quarter .^" and so on.' * Not at all,' said the doctor p.olitely. ' You wish to elicit the truth by the Socratic method, that is all ; why not ?' The Socratic method might have been trepanning, for all Mr. Lyster knew about it ; but he understood at least that per- mission had been given to him to proceed THE DOCTOR FROM LONDON. 65 ' Now, doctor, tell me truly, shall I live three months ?* ' I can't say, of course, for certain, my dear Mr. Lyster ; but I honestly tell you — humanly speaking — that I think It very likely you will.' ' Thank you. You have taken a great load from my mind, or rather you have given me hope, which Is strength, to bear the load. As I understand you, I may or may not be alive this day three months ; but the probabilities are that I shall be.' ' The probabilities are,' said the doctor firmly, ' that you will be.' ' Very good. And now what am I indebted to you for this welcome and satisfactory visit ?' The doctor named a sum, which included the extra sixpence for mileage, without hesitation — the word ' satisfactory ' had put that question beyond a doubt — and Mr. Lyster drew him a cheque for it. VOL. I. 5 66 FOR CASH ONLY. ' You have still ten minutes before the carriage comes round for you ; oblige me by taking a cigar.' * It will make you cough,' urged the other kindly, though, to say the truth, it was the very thing his lips had been yearn- ing for ever since his luncheon. * Not at all — I smoke myself — though, alas ! it is no longer tobacco ; these medi- cated cigarettes.' * Aye, aye,' said the doctor, lighting the magnificent Intimidad his companion offered him, the value of which (not to mention its length) perhaps suggested, though too late, more mileage. * I have heard them spoken well of in asthmatic cases.' ' You are the consulting physician, I believe, for the " Halcyon Insurance Com- pany : The doctor started, as well he might. A terrible suspicion began to dawn upon him. Perhaps it w^ould be necessary to express himself to this excellent gentleman, THE DOCTOR FROM LONDON, 67 for whom he felt a sincere regard, In less honeyed tones than he had hitherto used. He was pretty sure he had not committed himself by the expression of a too sanguine opinion, but he felt that he might have done so, and that, if so, such opinion would have been obtained from him to some degree under false pretences. His face grew grave. * Yes, Mr. Lyster ; I am.' * In view of the facts of which you have possessed yourself, Dr. Bell, it would, of course, be idle to apply to the " Halcyon Office " in the ordinary way. IMy life Is like an empty purse, not worth their taking. But for six months ' Dr. Bell shook his head. * Well, then, let us say for three. You said that it was very likely I should live for three months.' 'I said ''humanly speaking,'" replied the doctor evasively. * The probabilities no doubt are in your favour. But the 68 FOR CASH ONLY. '' Halcyon " has always set its face against ■extraordinary risks/ ' But if the proposed premium should be in proportion to the risk,' urged Mr. Lyster earnestly. * I am prepared to pay any premium In reason.' ' To be sure, that alters the case. May I ask — not that I am curious, but I con- clude from what you say that you propose, to make me In some sort your inter- mediary — may I ask the sum for which you propose to insure your life for the three months ?' •Certainly you may. Indeed, I wish you to act for me In this matter. The sum Is one hundred thousand pounds.' ' Bless my soul and body !' exclaimed the doctor. That question of mileage, past and gone though it was, began to assume In his eyes quite gigantic propor- tions. ' That Is a very large sum.' ' And the premium will be also large, no doubt,' observed Mr. Lyster. 'What I THE DOCTOR FROM LONDON, 69 want to know is simply how much it will be. I will send a form of application to the company, and then can only trust to your good offices.' ' Those, Mr. Lyster,' returned the other gravely, ' will be at your disposal. But I have no authority, no influence whatever, remember.' ' I did not suppose you had, my dear sir. You will, of course, simply do your duty. I shall say that you have seen me, and here's an end. My motive in sending for you was to make you acquainted, as the consulting physician for the society, with my state of health ; and if possible I should like to keep the matter a private and con- fidential one. If it should be necessary to place yourself in communication with Dr. Dickson, my ordinary medical atten- dant ' ' It will be absolutely necessary,' Inter- posed the other. * Then be so good as to enjoin him to JO FOR CASH ONLY. keep the matter secret. I think I have nothing more to say.' Nor had the doctor either. Indeed, he had a vague impression that in his cha- racter as physician he had already said a little too much as regarded his other call- ing, that of consulting adviser to the ' Halcyon.' He could not divest himself of the idea that he had been induced to take a too cheerful view under something like false pretences. It was not that, how- ever (though he thought it was), which gave his mind a twist prejudicial to his late patient, so much as that unfortunate admission of Mr. Lyster's that his motive in sending for him was the fact that he was connected with the Insurance Com- pany. Hitherto he had persuaded himself that the reason of his having been sent for had been a much more obvious and natural one ; namely, because he stood so high on the medical tree. *A hundred thousand pounds, and only THE DOCTOR FROM LONDON. 71 for three months,' he murmured to himself as he got into Mr. Lyster's carriage. ' There's something fishy about that, or I'm mistaken.' CHAPTER V. A PROTRACTED LUNCHEON. SCARCELY had doctor and patient been closeted in Mr. Lyster's study, when, to Clare's astonishment and dismay, Gerald made his appearance. He had missed the train, it seemed, for Middleton, and ' taken a trap' home. ' Well, 'pon my life,' he said, as he be- held the well-appointed luncheon - table with the remains of the feast upon it, ' you and the governor know what's good between you ! When I'm with you I never see a spread like this. By Jingo ! Madeira too!' It was evident that Gerald had no sus- A PROTRACTED LUNCHEOX. 73 picion that there was a stranger In the house, and it was no part of Clare's duty to undeceive him. If she could conceal the fact of Dr. Bell's presence, even though in doing so she should incur the charge of goiirmandise, she felt that she would be acting in accordance with her father's wishes. The question was, how to get her half-brother out of the way before the doctor took leave of his patient. For so young a man Gerald had no great appetite ; but, on the other hand, he had what, in default of a more recognised ex- pression, I have heard termed ' drinkitlte ' — and he never threw It away upon water. After he had applied himself In the ordinary way to the refreshments, he cleared a space before him for the Madeira, and began to help himself at regular intervals in a manner that obviously meant business. Clare began to get nervous, on two accounts : first, lest he should outlast the doctor ; second, lest he should give way to a certain weakness, 74 FOR CASH ONLY, which he was unhappily known to entertain, and take more liquor than was good for himself, or agreeable to other people. ' Remember, Gerald, that Madeira Is not the sort of wine people take much of In the middle of the day.' ' I know It Isn't. But the reason Is, be- cause they can't get It. If It's good for an Invalid — for I suppose It Is for the governor, and not your own peculiar tipple — It must be good for everybody.' - And the speaker laughed triumphantly, as one who has established a logical position, and helped himself to another glass. The conditions were not the most favour- able to him as regarded personal appear- ance ; whenever Gerald Imagined he had got the better of a fellow-creature he was given to chuckle. And next to sniggering, the chuckle is the most obnoxious of all forms of humour. Neither the painter nor the sculptor would have seized this particu- lar moment, had they had the opportunity, A PROTRACTED LUNCHEON. 75 to immortalise our young friend. His face, indeed, had a roseate flush upon it, but there his attractions ended ; his head was on one side ; his left eye, half-closed, darted forth a glance of superhuman cunning ; and his mouth was distended with a grin. * You must take care not to miss another train, Gerald,' observed his sister gravely. * I didn't miss the other ; it was the cab- horse. You don't suppose I walked ?' * No, indeed, I do not. It would be better for you, my dear boy, if you were more fond of walking.' 'Yah!' The above monosyllable, though not a graceful, is a very significant expression ; and when it is accompanied by a projection of the lower lip, it fulfils all the conditions of Demosthenian eloquence ; the action is suited to the word and the word to the action. ' Not fond of walking ! That shows how much you know^ about it. Why, I played 75 FOR CASH ONLY, at pool five hours yesterday. I should have been playing now if I could have got anybody to play with me, but I do believe Stokeville is the slowest place in all England.' ' I suppose in the middle of the day, at least, gentlemen have something else to do than play at billiards.' ' Then they ain't gentlemen. Gentle- men are people who have nothing to do except enjoy themselves.' * That is one definition of them, no doubt.' * Gad ! It's the only one that I know of. Do you suppose that real gentlemen — Frank Farrer for example, and men like that — pass their time in a country house, or a mill T ' There is no occasion for Mr. Farrer to do so ; he is not a manufacturer, nor an employer of labour, at least of the kind that requires supervision ; he is born, re- member, to a great estate.' A PROTRACTED LUNCHEON. 77 ' His governor is no richer than my governor, and why should I work any more than he ? Do you think just be- cause ' — here the young man stopped him- self, and concluded his sentence, somewhat precipitately, with another ' Yah !' It had occurred to his mind to make some remarks upon second marriages, with an inquiry why the issue thereof should be held inferior to that from first marriages, the whole to conclude with a particular ap- plication to his own case ; but something in his sister's face prevented it — it was grave and sad, but unmistakably full of kind intentions. ' I\Iy dear Gerald, I do so wish you would think differently about work, if it were only to please our father. Think what a difference it would make to him now^ that he is so ill — and — and — in such danger, if he could persuade himself that you in- tended to turn over a new leaf, and be a credit to us all' 78 FOR CASH ONLY. ' Difference to him ! I can't see that ; what's the good of my promising when I know that he won't beHeve me ?' The observation had at least the merit of nawetS, but his companion's face grew graver than ever as she repHed : * And has he not had good reason to disbelieve you, Gerald ? If he himself was speaking to you, he would adjure you to love work for Its own sake — to let that employment have some attraction for you which he himself has pursued so diligently all his life, and to which, materially, he owes so much. But I know such argu- ments have litde weight with you. I would entreat you rather- to amend your ways for yom father's sake ; he cannot be long with us — It lies with you to soothe and comfort his last hours, or to embitter them.' 'Well, If I thought I'd any chance of altering his mind towards me, that would be another thing,' mused Gerald, lifting A PROTRACTED LUXCHEON. 79 the remains of a oflass of wine to his lips. It would have been clear to a less intelligent observer than his present com- panion, that this young man's thoughts were taking a more practical direction than that of moral duty ; but Clare charitably ignored that circumstance. ' It is never too late to mend, Gerald. Consider how differently every other young man in your position conducts himself. Look at your cousin Herbert !' * He is not my cousin, to begin with,' answered Gerald curtly. ' And as to the mill, he hates it, and has cut the whole concern.' ' That is because his taste lies in another direction.' 'Just my case,' said Gerald coolly, filling his glass with the last of the Madeira. * Nay, It Is not your case. Herbert Is devoted to scientific pursuits.' ' I can give him twenty out of fifty at billiards, any way.' 8o FOR CASH ONLY. ' He Is only exchanging one kind of work/ continued Clare, taking no notice of this vaunt, ' for another, for which he has a particular bent. Idleness Is abhorrent to him. Then again there Is Percy ; he has a position much more assured than you have, yet see how dllllgent he Is !' ' Is he ? That shows how much you know about It. But never mind that,' he added abruptly. ' Do you suppose, If Percy were as sure of getting his uncle's money — as Frank Farrer, for Instance, Is of getting his father's — that he would go down to that mill every day to be poisoned with oil and grease ? No, no ; of course you're spoony on him and will believe anything ; but Master Percy knows on which side his bread Is buttered, I promise you.' ' There Is nothing more contemptible,. Gerald, than the Imputation of a bad motive to good conduct.' ' I said nothing about a bad motive,' re- turned the young man coolly ; ' it's only A PROTRACTED LUNCHEON. 8i human nature. Do you suppose Percy would have come courting you if he could have got his cousin Milly ? Not a bit of it ; when one can't get the best, one must put up with the second-best.' This speech was delivered with such exceeding gravity, and with a confidence so very marked, that Clare could not re- press a smile. ' It is something, at all events,' she said good-naturedly, ' to be even second-best.' ^ No doubt it is something,' answered Gerald, who had now finished the bottle, and was in that malevolent and grudging condition of mind which too much wine often induces in low natures ; ' but it isn't justice. You're a gal, and I'm a man. It isn't right that gals should have money ; they don't want it. Ain't I my father's only son ? When he is gone shall not I be his repre — ' a long word was by this time a considerable obstacle to his tongue — ' representative ? And shouldn't VOL. I. 6 82 FOR CASH ONLY, I have the money to keep up the posi- tion ?' He accompanied this sentiment in favour of hereditary rights with a thump on the table that made the glasses ring. * Gerald ! Gerald! pray be quiet!' implored the girl, alarmed at his vehemence; * re- member how ill papa is.' * Quiet ! Yes, of course you wish to be quiet and keep good friends. When we have got all we want, and it ought to go to other people, there is nothing we hate so much as a row.' * I don't know what you mean, Gerald ; I have nothing of yours, that I am aware of.' * No, but you're going to get it. Miss Innocence ; at least you hope so, and Percy hopes so too. Yah !' This revelation of the young gentle- man's secret sentiments, being, too, her own kith and kin (though only on one side), was certainly very unpleasant to his A PROTRACTED LUNCHEON. 83 companion ; it was like being shown, under a very powerful microscope, the creatures in the water we drink, or in the air we breathe. But what was most dreadful to Clare, was the impossibility of getting rid of the young man before the time when the carriage was ordered to take Dr. Bell to the station, of whose presence in the house he still knew nothing, and of which, as she guessed, her father would wish his son, of all men, not to know. With Ge- rald's drinking habits she was, unfortunately, already acquainted, but in his own home — though he had once or twice been brought thither in a quiescent state — he had hitherto put some restraint on himself. It was now clear that he was growing quarrelsome and noisy. Clare was almost at her wits' end, when there came a ring at the front-door bell. She ran out to reiterate her father's orders to say he was particularly engaged, when, 6—2 84 FOR CASH ONLY. to her great relief, she found the visitor to be her cousin Herbert. Without a word of question, or even of greeting, she whispered : * Oh, Bertie, Gerald is here, and in such a state — I mean ill-humoured and inclined for mischief ' (for even then she did not like to say her brother had taken too much wine). ' Pray, get him away before my father sees him.' Herbert nodded and went into the dining- room at once. Gerald turned round in his chair, and confronted him sulkily. * Oh, it's you, is it ? I thought you were at the Junction.' ' And I thought you were at Middleton. We are both, it seems, playing truant.' Gerald grew suspicious at once. Muddled though he was, he had sense enough to per- ceive that the other wished to conciliate him, which naturally rendered him antago- nistic. The idea, too, of Herbert playing truant was incredible. A PROTRACTED LUNCHEON. 85 * If you are coming after what you can get, Master Herbert, I hope it ain't the Madeira, because it's gone.' ' So I see,' returned the other, in a tone which impHed, in spite of himself, ' and also who has taken it.' ' There was very little to begin with ; Clara and the governor had been at it before I came ;' observed Gerald cun- ningly. Clare forced a smile, and Herbert, trying to fall into the young man's humour (not with much success, as was not to be won- dered at, considering that he yearned to thrash the humourist to within an inch of his life), remarked that everyone knew what great wine-drinkers his uncle and cousin were. Gerald nodded defiandy ; he felt that there was a scheme for his overthrow, though he did not associate it with wishing to get rid of his company. He held him- self ready to object to every proposition. S6 FOR CASH ONLY. ' I smell tobacco,' said he ; 'let's smoke/ 'We can't smoke here,' answered Her- bert ; ' we will go out and have a stroll.' ' I hate strolls,' said Gerald senten- tiously ; * when I walk I must always have an omjeck — an object.' If he could have seen a looking-glass, there would have been no need for his walking ; the speaker was an object him- self, and a very repulsive one ; flushed, sulky, and suspicious, he glanced from one to the other of his two companions like a baited bull. ' If Clare were not here,' thought Her- bert, ' I would knock you down, stuff a napkin into your mouth, and carry you off in your own fly' — which he had noticed was still waiting at the door for him. * If you two want to be alone,' said Gerald pompously, ' you will be disap- pointed. I don't think it's right ; I won't permit it, in justice to Percy.' A PROTRACTED LUNCHEON, 87 Herbert mechanically seized a napkin ; he felt like a Thug. ' No ; unless I can get somebody to play billiards with me, here I stick till my train is due.' ' I shall be very happy to play billiards with you,' observed Herbert coldly. * Yah ! you can't play billiards.' ' I'll ^Xdiy you, at all events,, for what you like.' ' For what I like ?' The wild beast of greed that lived within the soul of Gerald began to show itself. ' Do you mean for money ? Then I'm your man.' He rose, dipped his napkin in a finger- glass, and mopped his forehead : ' Now I'm ready for you.' They went out together at once, but as Gerald got into the fly his suspicions began to re-awaken ; he stood up in it, swaying from side to side as he did so : ' I say, no larks ! I can't afford to waste my time ; I am not going to play for sixpences.' 88 FOR CASH ONLY. ' Go 07t f cried Herbert to the flyman, and at the same time jerked at his com- panion's coat-tails, so that he fell backwards in the seat, all of a heap. ' I say,' exclaimed Gerald complainingly, but not with the ill-temper he had shown a few minutes ago ; there was something in the other's face that awed him. ' That shook me like .the deuce. You want to shatter my nerves to put me off my play. But it won't do; I'm as fit as can be. I'll play you at pyramids for half-a-crown a ball.* * Very good !' The ill-assorted pair drove on till they were in the outskirts of the town. Then, ' How much do you count upon to win of me }' inquired Herbert coolly. ' Why, hang me, how did you guess I was thinking about that ?' returned the other naively. * Well, I calculate the next three-quarters of an hour — for we have fully that to spare^ — you will be worth two pounds ten to yours truly.' A PROTRACTED LUNCHEON. 89 'Well, I'll give you three pounds to let me off.' ' What ? You'll pay forfeit, will you ? By all means.' Herbert produced the money at once, and paid it over to him. ' Come, that's a good stroke of business,' said Gerald triumphantly. ' But it's understood that you go to Middleton, or at all events not home again.' ' You didn't say that,' said Gerald cunningly. ' Why, it's flat bribery. You want to see Clare alone, which is very unfair to Percy. I really could not permit it — at least, not for three pounds.' Herbert turned very white. ' I have no wish to be alone with Clare, but you are not in a fit state to go home at present, and you shall not do it.' ' But suppose I do do it ?' ' If you do,' said Herbert, giving him a look (which, to say the truth, was 90 FOR CASH ONLY, not a pretty one) from which the other shrank in alarm, * as sure as your name's Gerald, I'll break every bone in your skin !' CHAPTER VI. AT THE HALL. STOKEVILLE HALL was to Oak Lodge as an epic is to a sonnet. The latter residence, as we have said, was perfect in its way, but it had no pretensions to grandeur ; whereas the former was palatial. Its style was understood to be Italian, and perhaps, under an Italian sky, it might have had its merits. As it was, the vast (should be) white portico, with its pillars of (long fallen) snow, sug- gested neither purity nor poetry, but only the pressing necessity for soap and water. On the broad forehead of this structure was written, as on a phylactery, in letters 92 FOR CASH ONLY. of gold, the family motto, 'In medio tntis- simiis ibis, the meaning of which puzzled a good many local visitors. The majority imao^ined that in 7nedio had reference to the circulating medium, and freely trans- lated the sentence, 'Fo7^ Cask Only.' Others took it to signify * No risks and moderate profits ;' a sentiment, however, which, years ago, would have been more appropriate to Sir Peter's case than at pre- sent. Others, again, thought that the aphorism had some reference to the quality of the goods dealt In by the worthy knight ; and a few even ventured to hint that It had a moral signification, and suggested that Honesty alone (like coffee without phicory) was not to be so much recom- mended as when a little mixed. It was sad to think that a man like Sir Peter could have such detractors ; but, on the other hand, it was a consolation to reflect that he would leave a monument of beneficence behind him — the Fibbert AT THE HALL. 93 Museum, built at his own sole expense, of a material which would survive all their malice. The Hall Itself was almost a museum, so well filled it was with objects of art and vertu ; and, though new in itself, Its con- tents were so carefully selected from ancient sources, that, once inside It, you might almost fancy yourself inside a pyramid, or underneath the lava of Pompeii. Not a picture graced the walls that was not centuries old, or at least claimed to be so. If there were not eleven thousand Blessed Virgins, as at Cologne, there was a very large number, and all more or less authentic ; at all events they were exceedingly alike. ' Virgin and Child,' by GoodinI ; ' Virgin and Child,' by BetterinI ; ' Virgin and Child,' by Bestini ; the ' Holy Family,' by Otherini, etc., etc. The picture-gallery was crowded with them, but not exclusively ; there hung beside some very different specimens of 94 FOR CASH ONLY. ancient art, and which could hardly be called companion-pictures. Nymphs who had obviously flourished at a time when there was no Fibbert and Lyster to supply them with cotton goods ; and Dryads who would have found Stokeville much too open a country. There were Claudes, too, or what passed for Claudes, with every object included on their canvases that the face of nature affords ; and caves, by Salvator Rosa, with robbers carousing in them. In any old-fashioned country house of the same size as Stokeville Hall, these would have charmed every artistic eye, because they would have been almost in- visible ; but here, where vast plate-glass windows let in floods of light, it was really very trying for them. They seemed to feel themselves in a false position ; on Sundays, when the Stokeville sun could work its will, the poor robbers especially, though there was only a smudge of lamp-black and a dab of scarlet to estab- AT THE HALL, 95 lish their identity, fairly cowered before it. The FIbbert ancestors, who were col- lected in the dining-room, in very noble frames, expressed a fine contempt for these surroundings. No expense had been spared in procuring them, but, unfortunately, no pains had been taken to secure uniformity; so, far from looking like one family, they had not a feature in common. The only sign of relationship about them, as Percy was wont to observe, was that they scowled at one another as if their interests were antagonistic ; but it might have been that, being old-fashioned folks, they resented the attempt that had been made by the up- holsterer and the cabinet-maker to impose upon them. They knew that ' In medio ttitissimus ' on the ceiling never came from the Heralds' Office, and that the worm- holes in the oak that lined the room spoke less of the effect of years than of small- shot. 96 FOR CASH ONLY. The architect whom Sir Peter had em- ployed, after his house was built, to give what flavour of antiquity to it was possible, had done his best, no doubt, and the up- holsterer had seconded his efforts ; but the result was incongruous. It suggested the device of some eminent receiver of stolen goods who would have folks believe that they were his own furniture. Why the spoils of the chase should have adorned the hall of a man who had never fired a gun in his life * in anger ' (as he called the practice of partridge-shooting), was a ques- tion not easily answered ; but it sank into insignificance beside the inquiry, ' Why an armoury ?' Yet in Stokeville Hall there was a passage (leading to the bath-room) adorned by weapons of all ages, guarded by men in armour, who (their existence in such a spot being naturally unexpected) had frightened many a new maid-servant into fits. Sir Peter himself passed most of his AT THE HALL. 97 time In a little room, like a pantry, at the back of the house. In company with the picture of his own mill as It appeared In In- fancy — a harmless edihce, with one chimney ; an old map of the county, wherein Stoke- vllle was represented by six dots, the number of houses It then contained ; and the certificate of his knighthood, framed and glazed. In spite of his reverence for antiquity, It w^as whispered by cynical per- sons that. In his secret heart, he had doubts whether anything had taken place of Im- portance anterior to fifty years ago, when the FIbberts began to rise In the world ; and It was certain that such outdoor dig- nities as had been earned, for example, at Crecy and Poitiers, seemed very small to him by comparison with his own rank, which had been conferred upon him by his Majesty George the Fourth, In person, for distinguished services In connection with a deputation, the precise nature of which had been lost In the mists of time. VOL. I. 7 98 FOR CASH ONLY. In addition to the decorations on the walls of this sanctum, there stood on the table, altar-shaped for that, especial purpose, a complete model of the Fibbert Museum In cork, with a plate In front of it, like a metal mat, on which was inscribed the date of erection of the building, and the name of the donor. * Si monumenttmi requiris^ the knight was wont to observe, pointing to this edifice (for he was a wag In his way, though he stole his jokes), ' sir — come — spy — see! His museum was to him what the Pyramids were to the Egyptian kings ; he would have been burled In it If he could, but in default of that he wished it to be a witness to his greatness throughout all ages. The greatest honour that could be conferred on you as a visitor at Stokeville Hall, was to be admitted to this bower to smoke a cigar with your host, w^ho would narrate to you at some length how he had been once a little boy living tJieix (here he pointed to AT THE HALL. 99 one of the six dots on the map), and working there (here he pointed to the infant mill) for wage ; but that, thanks to good luck, and perhaps a rough sort of merit (here he would smile and smooth himself), ' I have become' (here he glanced comprehensively at the certificate and the cork model) ' what I am.' On other occasions, and even the same evening, if the visitor was a whisky- drinker, he would serve up the same nar- rative, as the cooks say, ' another way.' He would treat himself as though he were some- body else, and his biography as a sort of parable, the object of which was to show the advantages of diligence and perse- verance ; and when he had painted the dizzy heights to which the poor but honest lad had risen by his own exertions, he would suddenly surprise his companion (If a judicious person) with the unexpected revelation, ' / am that boy.' Besides Sir Peter's sanctum, there was another apartment at the Hall that was an 7—2 loo FOR CASH ONLY. exception to Its general style, the boudoir of his daughter. Miss Mildred, or, as she was called by her Intimates, Mllly FIbbert, had a horror of all ' antiquated rubbish ;' she was young herself (barely slx-and- twenty), and disliked anything about her to smack of age. The furniture of her apart- ment was of the latest design ; Its orna- ments, constantly recruited from Paris or Regent Street, even to the ' old blue china,' looked ever bright and new ; while the novels that crowded her pretty buhl table (Percy called it, from Its surrounding, ' the bull in the china shop') were always 'just out' Mllly was more particular in getting her fiction fresh and hot (like muffins), than in its wholesomeness. Her papa was not literary, despite that Latin quotation about his monument, and she was left to her own taste, which was for pickles and sauces, or at all events for entrees, rather than the joint. AT THE HALL. loi I am afraid she endeavoured, In some measure, to reproduce in her own proper person the fast and fashionable heroines of whom she read, a habit only too com- mon with those who shared her taste in imaeinative literature. With women and old gentlemen (unless they were superior to herself in rank, in which case she was always on her best be- haviour) she was languid, lazy, and in- different ; w^ith young gentlemen, on the other hand, she was no longer a Du-du (this was Percy again), nor yet a Don't-don't. She gave them a helping hand if they needed encouragement ; and if, on the other hand, they were ' great fun,' allowed them and herself considerable license. To look at her now you would think that butter would not melt in her mouth ; so inanimate and calm is her beautiful face, so indolent is her attitude, as she lies on the sofa with a book held aslant in her languid hand. After an eulogistic descrip- 102 FOR CASH ONLY. tion of one of his characters, Lavater adds, 'but he does not hold his book well,' and he would certainly have said the same of Milly Fibbert. But then she could hold it better if she would. She has learnt from her pet authors that to be negligent is to be charming, and also that you should never trouble yourself to exhibit interest unless it is worth your while — to a lord for instance or a lover. In the present case, her only companion was her father, so that of course there was no necessity to put herself out of the way. However, as she had not seen him before this morning, for he always breakfasted at eight, in order to be at business early, and she generally at ten, she acknowledged, by a gracious movement of her eyelids, Sir Peter's en- trance into the room. He was a man of advanced aee, but looked much younger than his years. His hair was plentiful, his figure plump, and out of business hours he wore a roguish AT THE HALL. 103 smile, the nature of which was disputed. His friends said it was only the sly humour characteristic of the man ; his enemies, while admitting the smile, affirmed that it was put on to conceal his roguery, in which it did not succeed. They even mis- trusted the twinkle of his eyes, which they averred was too instantaneous to prevent their losing sight of the main chance, even for a moment ; a position they further illus- trated by the fact that when he smiled he always jingled the money in his pockets. His eyes were blue like his daughter's, and, though they never yearned and lan- guished as she had taught hers to do, they were capable of other expressions than that of the easy good-nature which they wore at present. She too, as we have said, was plump ; and there all resem- blance, except that their years sat lightly on them both, between father and daughter, ended. Not even the custodian of his own museum could have called Sir Peter 104 FOR CASH ONLY. beautiful ; but Milly was In her way splendid. Her complexion soft as cream, with a subdued colour in it, like light through egg-shell china ; her well-rounded limbs in exquisite proportion ; her brown hair, finer than silk, and with a shimmer on it as though it were the playground of the sunbeams. Percy called her the Princess Blondissima, a name he pre- tended to have found in a fairy-tale, but if she was a fairy her weight was over the average. ' So, Miss Milly, you have got a fire, have you ?' said her father, at the same time taking advantage of it to warm his back ; ' that is beginning early. I suppose you remember that coals are cheap in Stokeville.' Milly smiled the very faintest smile imaginable ; her pretty mouth parted per- haps a hair's breadth, but she made up for that condescension by almost closing her already half-shut eyes. Who but Sir AT THE HALL. lo: Peter could have dreamt of associating her thoughts with the price of coals ? ' Fortunately cotton is looking up/ con- tinued Sir Peter consolingly. Milly, unlike the cotton, did not look up ; her eyes sought her book a little im- patiently. She had been interrupted at a critical point, where the guardsman with the tawny moustache and fifteen thousand a year was endeavouring to persuade the Lady Adeliza Montblazon to fly with him to the sunny south. ' i\ husband,' he said, when she mentioned that obstacle, 'like the ledge of a beehive, is made to fly from.' ' Have you any news from Oak Lodge, Milly, this morning ?' Sir Peter's tone had altered ; it was no longer bantering and airy ; though not absolutely severe, it had become abrupt. Milly, who knew how very swift with him was the transition between jocularity and irritation, sighed wearilv, and, sheathinor an io6 FOR CASH ONLY, ivory dagger In the leaves of her novel to keep the place, resigned herself to con- versation. ' No, papa ; I have heard nothing from Clare. Let us hope that no news Is good news.' The philosophic calmness with which she uttered this aspiration would have been admirable had she required to keep her feelings under control ; but the fact w^as they were not greatly interested In the subject. The illness of her friend's father was a matter that only touched her In so far that It made Clare melancholy, and unfitted for the offices of friendship. Mt is my opinion, Mildred — and what Is of more consequence, it Is Dickson's opinion — that Lyster will not get over it.' ' Poor man !' The words of the speaker were appro- priate enough, but sympathy could scarcely a less distance go than It did In the tone in which they were expressed. AT THE HALL. 107 * You are begging the very question I am asking myself,' said Sir Peter gravely. * Is John Lyster a poor man ?' * Mr. Lyster poor !' Milly raised her- self quite naturally, without thinking (for once) of how she did it, or of her pose afterwards. ' Why, is he not your partner ?' ' Till his death, yes ; but that cannot be far off.' ' That will make no difference to us, however, will it ? — that is, materially ?' Her concern for the Lady Adeliza Montblazon had been considerable ; but there was another young woman in whom, although untitled, it was manifest she took a still warmer interest. ' I should hope not ; no, indeed,' said Sir Peter, straightening his waistcoat ; ' but it would be a sad thing for Clare — a dread- ful come-down in the world.' * It would be shocking, inexpressibly shocking,' assented Milly, arranging a io8 FOR CASH ONLY. bracelet that had slipped too far over her wrist. * Then there's Percy.' These three words dropped with great significance from Sir Peter's lips, but his daughter only acknowledged them by an inclination of her head. Her answer took that form for two reasons. First, she could not trust herself to speak ; secondly, the action concealed her face from her father. She had fltished from chin to brow% and her heart — for she had a heart — was beating against her tight-laced stays like a bird in a cage too small for it. CHAPTER VII. FATHER AND DAUGHTER. 1KN0W,' continued Sir Peter con- fidentially, ' though you tie in your skirts so tight, and limp on your toes, that you have got a head on your shoulders, Milly, and are not given to blab, or else I should not be talking to you about what Is, after all, more or less of a business matter : but the fact is, I want to get all the infor- mation I can about Lyster. A little bird, as you women say, has hinted to me that his affairs are not as they should be. It's a dead secret, mind. But have you any reason for suspecting this ?' Mildred was silent, but it was clear she loi FOR CASH ONLY. was deep In thought. She was not treat- ing the matter with that graceful indiffer- ence which she had read was the proper attitude to assume with respect to every- thing human and divine, except flirting and fashion. ' Itis not likely, of course,' continued Sir Peter, ' that Clare should have told you in so many words that her father is in dif- ficulties ; indeed, he is so precious close in all he does that she probably does not know it herself But she may have her suspicions.' ' She is very prudent about expenditure,' said Milly slowly, ' very prudent. She gives a good deal away, I hear ; but one can get a great reputation that way at no great cost. Percy says it even pays in the end.' Sir Peter frowned heavily. ' Percy lets his tongue run a great deal too fast, and often knows very little of what he's talking about. I'm asking about Clare.' FATHER AND DAUGHTER. in ' Well — Clare, I have always thought, considering her position, spends very little money ; of course, if they are really poor that explains it.' ' Tush ! That's not it,' said Sir Peter impatiently ; ' that only shows she's a sensible girl, and doesn't waste her father's money on gimcracks and rubbish.' And he looked round his daughter's highly- decorated boudoir in a manner that implied a personal application. ' Yes, Clare is very sensible,' said Mil- dred, the bow of her Cupidon lips drawn a litde tighter than usual, ' and very practical. I always thought — though you didn't agree with me — that she rather laid herself out for Percy." ' Not a bit of it. That's mere woman's jealousy.' Sir Peter while making this ofeneral reflection addressed himself to the opposite wall ; if he had been looking at his daughter he would have seen her start and tremble, and then, as if irritated at her own 112 FOR CASH ONLY. indiscretion, frown and bite her lips. ' You thought, I know, that your cousin might have looked higher than my junior partner's daughter. On the other hand, she miofht have looked higher too. Frank Farrer has now brought his pigs to a better market — there, you needn't sniff ; everyone knows that If Clare had held up her little finger she could have had him.' ' You are delicately suggesting, in short, that In encouraging Mr. Farrer's attentions I am taking up with Clare Lyster's leavings.' ' Upon my life !' exclaimed Sir Peter, vehemently, ' I am sometimes Inclined to think that all women are alike, and born fools. Here am I talking about business — really Important matters — and you fly into a passion because I drop a word that wounds your vanity. What would you have ? Didn't I say that Farrer's second thoughts were best ; if not, 1 meant to say it. Second thoughts are often best, and FATHER AND DAUGHTER. 113 the thoughts that people think for us, I may add — people who have a right to do so, of course — are better than those we think for ourselves. No, I don't think Clare's economies have anything to do with this matter, one way or another. But have you seen no change in her of late months ^ has she seemed despondent, down in the mouth ?' * How could she, having just secured her prize ?' observed Mildred sarcastically. ' To be sure ; though that's not so certain, mind you ; indeed that was what I was coming to. My consent to Percy's marriage was, of course, only conditional. I should never permit him to marry an un- suitable person — one I mean unsuitable as regards position.' ' I am afraid you would find it rather difficult to stop him now,' said Mildred, shrugging her plump shoulders. ' Difficult ! Where's the difficulty, I should like to know ?' returned Sir Peter VOL. I. 8 114 FOR CASH ONLY. angrily. ' If Percy chooses to consider himself his own master, well and good ; but if I know him he will think twice about that.' ' Still, the matter has been quite ar- ranged,' continued Mildred, looking at her father keenly, as he chafed and frowned under her gaze ; ' you have passed your word to Percy, remember.' 'Then, if what I suspect is the case,' said Sir Peter bluntly, * he'll just have to pass it back again. As long as there's nothing in writing, one can always get out of a bad bargain ; besides,' he added con- fidently, like one who is fortified by religion as well as morality, * Clare is the last person to think of bringing an action against a man for breach of promise of marriage.' Mildred shook her head ; not that she meant to dissent from this opinion, but only to imply that it would not be so easy to change front in the face of the enemy as her father appeared to imagine. FATHER AND DAUGHTER. 113 ' Then there's that fellow Gerald,' con- tinued Sir Peter, pursuing, as it appeared, some reflection of his own ; ' I dare say he may have something to do with it, in case things are as bad as I hear. He has cost his father, no doubt, a pretty penny. They tell me he not only drinks but gambles. If I had a son who gambled, he should never see one penny of my money.' Again Mildred bent her head ; perhaps in assent to this virtuous observation, only it was observable that that flush came into her face again, for which in this case there surely seemed no need. * What can one expect of Gerald ?' she said disdainfully. * Well, common decency for one thing, and that he does not exhibit. There is something wrong with him, I hear, and Rachel Warder, a girl at our mill.' ' I say again, What can you expect ?' said Mildred coldly, ' He has the example of his own father before him.' ii6 FOR CASH ONLY. ' That's true, begad !' 'And In his case he even went to the length of marriage.' 'Yes ; but then Lyster Is Quixotic. Hb view was, that having begun by making a fool of himself, he was bound In honour ' ' Honour !' exclaimed Mildred disdain- fully. She could have been eloquent on this point, for the arguments of the guards- man with the tawny moustache were fresh in her mind, but her tone was equal to a folio. ' Well, of course, it was most ridiculous,'' assented Sir Peter ; ' If Gerald was to do anything of the sort, it would be all over with him ; though, so far as we are con- cerned — I mean the firm — we should not be altogether sorry for It. It would give us an excuse for shutting the door against him. But his father's case was altogether different.' ' In what respect ?' inquired the young FATHER AND DAUGHTER. uy lady disdainfully. ' The woman he married was of the same class as this Rachel What's- her-name, was she not ?' * Well, yes ; but she was a superior per- son for her station ; and when he was caught by the devil — a' precious narrow squeak it was, I can tell you — it was her presence of mind that saved him.' Sir Peter's allusion, of course, was not to our ghostly enemy, but to a certain piece of machinery in the mill called after him — a chevatix de finse of iron teeth, making one hundred and eighty revolutions or so per minute, with which Mr. Lyster had once made too near an acquaintance. ' Indeed the girl herself was very respect- able, and even presentable,' continued the knight, whose mother herself had been a mill-hand, and, to judge by the care with which her portrait was kept strictly under lock and key, had not been very presentable. * It was the relations — that Chigwell lot — that rendered the match so unsuitable.' u8 FOR CASH ONLY. * Unsuitable!' echoed Mildred. ' My dear papa, It Is very nice and generous of you to stick up for your old friend ; but the whole affair was most dls^^raceful and dis- creditable.' Sir Peter, whose excuses had really had a personal source (for though one can ignore one's grandmother, one can hardly burke one's mother), did not resent the imputation of the more noble motive. ' Well, well, let bygones be bygones. I have never cast the m.atter up against him, except as regards the secrecy with which It was brought about ; and It Is the recollec- tion of how deuced close Lyster was throughout that business which makes me suspicious of him now. I have been his friend and partner these twenty years, and yet I know no more than the dead where he has invested his money ; whether he Is rolling in wealth, in short, or as poor as Lazarus.' ' Percy thought, no doubt, he was as FATHER AND DAUGHTER. 119 rich as Dives,' observed Mildred de- cisively. ' Well, yes ; I dare say he thought Lyster would cut up for a pretty penny, as, indeed, did I : but, besides, Percy was taken up with the girl herself, there's no doubt of that, which made him precipitate.' ' He was not given much time, perhaps, to make up his mind,' remarked Mildred drily. ' You think she snapped at him, do you ?' said Sir Peter dubiously. ' Well, I confess that never struck me. While, as to Lyster himself, I am bound to say he discouraged the engagement from the first. And that has to be considered, mind you,' added the knight, with the air of one to whom, for the first time, some new and powerful moral argument has presented itself 'Is it right that a young man should marry a girl contrary to the wishes of her sole surviving parent ?' His Majesty Henry VHI. could not I20 FOR CASH ONLY, have looked more conscience -stricken, upon discovering that he had married a wife within the forbidden degrees of rela- tionship — and wanted to get rid of her — than did Sir Peter. ' On the other hand,' he continued, 'my informant may have been altogether on a wrong scent ; and Lyster, as you were saying, may be a Dives instead of a Lazarus. I wonder, now, whether Her- bert Newton's leaving the mill had any- thing to do with this ? It Is possible he smells a rat.' ' I should think it very likely.' She was going to add, ' because the mill is overrun with rats.' But, fortunately for her — for Sir Peter did not like jokes (that is, other people's jokes) when business was being talked — her father interrupted her. ' You do, do you ? Now, that's what I wanted to get at !' exclaimed Sir Peter ex- citedly. 'You women have a certain quickness, and that is why I consulted FATHER AND DAUGHTER, 121 you. To an outsider, of course, Herbert's leaving the mill is unaccountable. He is the best man we have, and he knows it. Percy is a clever fellow*,, but that Is all. I am much mistaken If Herbert does not turn out an Arkwright. Yes, or as you say, now he has taken to this new line, a Watt.' Mildred had said nothing of the kind ; she had said ' What ?' not knowing what an Arkwriorht was. But Sir Peter, full of his subject, had credited her with equal knowledge. The truth was, ^Mildred knew very little of anything, except what was to be picked up from Society novels. Of manufactures In a general way she was absolutely ignorant; and, even as respected her father's mill, she was acquainted with little more than the fact that it produced, in good times, a great deal of money. She was, however, naturally quick- witted, and on the present occasion per- ceived that her best way of becoming 122 FOR CASH ONLY. acquainted with certain facts that might concern her, was to pretend that they were already at her fingers'-ends. * It Is quite certain, you see,' continued Sir Peter, * that in a year or two, or less, if Herbert had stopped at the mill he would have been made a partner. But at present, though his money is in it in a certain sense, it is only as a part of Lyster's share. If he smells a rat — thinks his uncle's affairs are In a bad way — It is only natural he should wish to realise, which he can do just now, at a profit. If Lyster cannot buy him out, he knows that I shall be glad to do so. And when one comes to think of it, for what other reason can he want to go ? As to his devotion for science, and wishing for a more practical development of his talents — which Is what is given out — that's all damned nonsense ; don't you think so ?' Though accustomed to fast expressions and slang terms, Mildred could hardly en- FATHER AND DAUGHTER. 123 dorse Sir Peter's statement as it stood, but confined herself to saying that she thought such motives for Herbert's retirement were highly improbable. ' Very good ; you take the same view of the affair that I do.' ' But, papa, if business is so brisk, and matters are going on so well, and Mr. Lyster is your partner, he must be making money in proportion. If the revival of trade lasts only for a few months — so Percy told me — the gains will be enor- mous.' ' Well, well, they will be pretty large, no doubt,' admitted the knight, his self-com- placency for the moment getting the better of him ; ' but as to Lyster, that depends.' And Sir Peter pulled up his stiff cravat with the air of one who has something to conceal besides his shirt-collar. * Depends on what, papa ?' ' Oh ! — well, you would scarcely under- stand it ; stocks and shares. If, for 124 FOR CASH ONLY. example, Lyster has been speculating — and there's really no knowing — largely, his present losses may have swallowed up his contingent gains.' Mildred, it is true, understood little of stocks and shares, but she knew when people, or at least some people, were de- ceiving her ; and she felt that her father's reply was not altogether ingenuous. *And what is it you want me to do, papa?' ' Why, to keep your eyes open. You are not often at Oak Lodge, but there's now an excuse in Lyster's illness for your making more frequent visits ; and girls can find out things from girls. I shouldn't wonder if Gerald knew something about this, for he has a certain sort of cunning — pump him. You see it's important to get at the truth for Percy's sake.' ' Well, it may be infatuation — indeed, people say it is — but in my opinion, how- ever matters may turn out, you will not easily induce Percy to give up Clare.' FATHER AND DAUGHTER. 125 * Induce him ! Gad ! if it should turn out that Clare's a beggar — for that's what it may run to — I shan't talk about induce- ments. I shall say, " Young man, you will marry at your peril." ' ' But that will be very harsh, papa, will it not ?' said IMildred, looking down to conceal a glance it was difficult to de- cipher, but which had something of malice or triumph in it that belied her plaintive tones, 'and very, very sad.' * Never you mind about its harshness or sadness,' replied Sir Peter curtly ; ' that's Percy's look-out and not yours : but I think he is too wise to quarrel with me. There's the door-bell ; did I not hear hoofs on the gravel-sweep ?' ' Yes, papa, it is Mr. Farrer ; he said he would ride over this morning.' * Very good ; you mustn't keep him wait- ing, so I'll not detain you any longer. But you quite understand the position as re- gards Percy ?' 126 FOR CASH ONLY. ' Perfectly/ 'And the necessity for caution in the way of going to work ? That's well. You may rely on't, I shan't join you in the drawing-room for the next twenty minutes, missy,' he added, with a sly nod ; ' I am not one to spoil sport.' CHAPTER VIII. LOVERS ' A LA MODE.' CONSIDERING that Miss Mildred had been admonished not to keep her visitor waiting, and also that he had the reputation of being her suitor, even if he was not actually engaged to her, she evinced no great alacrity to seek his presence. For some moments after the servant who had announced his arrival had left the room, she remained with her hands clasped before her, and wearing an expres- sion very different from that calm repose so much recommended (in company with ' the Vere-de-Vere ' hat) to young ladies of fashion. 128 FOR CASH ONLY, The news that had just been confided to her, should It turn out to be true, might alter, she felt, the v/hole tenor of her future existence. A hope that had at one time thrilled her very being, with joy, and which had been somewhat rudely snatched away, was once more re-awakened within her ; but It was dangerous to entertain it, even In secret, and difficulties lay in the way, which to a less resolute nature would have seemed gigantic. To a frank one, indeed, they would have seemed insur- mountable ; but Mildred's nature was not frank, or rather her mental training had so imbued her with conventionality and affec- tation, that duplicity — which is the next step to them — was easy. To affect a virtue, though she had it not, would indeed have been beyond her powers : but a more diffi- cult feat was within her compass : she could conceal a passion that enthralled her, and simulate It where it did not exist. For a minute or two her brow was LOVERS 'A LA MODE.' 129 weighty with care, her eyes full of pain and dread ; but as she took a flower from .a vase and placed it in her hair, and cast a last look in the Mass as she left the room, it reflected all that she would have it : a beautiful girl, not indeed aglow to meet her lover, for she was very pale, but with .an expression of pleased expectation that might have satisfied a more exacting swain than he who was awaiting her. As she entered the drawing-room she cast a comprehensive glance around it, that included not only its tenant but the windows, and when the young gentleman opened his arms (which it was clear was expected of him), she threw herself into them with all the confidence and elan of a swimmer takino;- a header. ' I thought you would never come, Frank — take care, there's the gardener. How is your father ?' As it happened, there was no gardener ; but Mr. Frank Farrer, who thought there VOL. I. 9 I30 FOR CASH ONLY. was, sprang away from the young lady with great alacrity, and plumped into a chair with his back to the window in such confusion of mind that he forgot to make any reply to this kind inquiry after his parent's health. * Did you come over on the mare, or Tito ?' inquired Mildred, seating herself beside him. ' On Tito,' replied the young gentleman. * Dear me, is he gone ?' he whispered, wiping his scarlet face with his pocket- handkerchief. He was unscientific, and had no confi- dence in glass as a non-conductor of sound, and he was exceedingly sensitive to ridicule. * He is there still, but he didn't see us,' observed Mildred unblushingly. If the means excuse the end, she was justified in the tarradiddle ; for her object was to keep Mr. Frank Farrer at a distance. She had encouraged his atten- tions hitherto, and was prepared to endure LOVERS 'A LA mode! 131 them still if it should be necessary ; but they had suddenly become very unwelcome. Her kisses, alas ! were of that sort ^ by hopeless fancy framed on lips that were for others ' (or one other), and Frank had only received a base imitation of the current coin of love, no more like the genuine article than the ' kisses ' in a pastry-cook's shop ; but now that the ' fancy ' might not prove so ' hopeless ' she even grudged him these. Yet he was by no means one to inspire the gentler sex with repugnance. On horseback, indeed, Mr. Frank Farrer looked the very model of a gentleman, or, at all events, of a gentleman-rider. On Tito, or ' the mare,' he was at home, and if the world (beyond that of the hunting- field) could still be ' witched with noble horsemanship,' he would have been an eminent individual. Out of the saddle, however, he was like a fish out of water> He, who could face the stiffest 'bullfinch' 9—2 132 FOR CASH ONLY, without a tremor, and had never looked out for the weak place in a wall, was, in the presence of a lady — that is, a real one — bashful, shy, and heavy in hand. The * Fibbert filly,' as he termed Mildred in private, had been always too skittish for him ; he never knew whether she was at play or mischief; and even in her most caressing moods he had a suspicion that she might bite. Of late months, how- ever, she had grown more docile, which evidenced, he thought, a certain sweetness of disposition, since he was conscious that he had not made a bid for her till he found the ' Lyster filly ' was not to be had. He had not as yet proposed to Mildred in form, for though the behaviour of these young people may be thought by old- fashioned folks to be that of an engaged couple, it was only the result of the lady's reading ; he had no apprehension, however, it should be added, of failing: to win her. There was nothing, indeed, to trouble LOVERS 'A LA MODE. 133 Mr. Frank Farrer as to his future, except that when his father died he would have to stand for the county, and make a speech in public out of his hat ; an ordeal which, though vague and indistinct, gave him secretly great disquietude. ' How deuced hard,' he thought, * it was that he was not the son of a peer !' in which case his horizon would have been cloudless. To look at him on horseback, you would have said it was so, even as matters were ; his face, redeemed from the imputation of boyhood by a dapper, black moustache, was so bright (though indeed with a mate- rial brightness such as one would almost say might come from oil and flannel, rather than from intelligence) ; his manner so gay ; his laugh (albeit it had a some- what vacant ring) so cheery. But on land, as Percy called it, Frank Farrer was not at his ease ; when not engaged in conver- sation he would look at his legs as if he 134 FOR CASH ONLY, missed something — which was his horse — and when addressed, would shift them uneasily, and tapping his white teeth with the handle of his whip, reply, ^ No, really,' or ' You don't say so.' It is a fact, however, though not gener- ally known, that a man may be very dull without being a flat, and Mr. Frank Farrer knew very well how to take care of himself. If Miss Mildred Fibbert had been a bad match, he would, on the present occasion for example, have been upon his guard, and never run that risk (though as it hap- pened it had been an imaginary one) with respect to the gardener. But Mildred was an excellent match, at all events as re- garded money ; and though somewhat past the flower of her youth, was in no need of suitors. She had looked on them all dis- dainfully, and kept herself as it were for hiniy which was pleasant to reflect upon. The maturity of her charms was no disad- vantage to her, since while she did not look LOVERS ''A LA MODE. 135 five-and-twenty, she had all the gush and abandon of eiorhteen at her command at a o moment's notice. Mr. Frank Farrer much preferred her under present circumstances, than when she was trying on him the arts of con- versation. He felt that it was very good of her to talk to him about cub-hunting (her favourite authoress made men's sports her speciality), but it was like playing billiards with one who had never handled a cue ; it was plain she knew nothing about it. Lawn tennis had long been over, the season for picnics was passed, and Frank did not care twopence for second-hand accounts of the doins^s of London Society ; and all the sources of human interest being thus cut off, conver- sation was rendered very difficult to poor Mildred. To narrate what passed between these two young persons in the way of talk would be like presenting the reader with a 136 FOR CASH ONLY, necklace of dull glass beads; a thing absolutely worthless in itself, though the stringing of the beads together may have Served to pass an idle hour, and in certain company even an agreeable one. What was significant in the interview were the tones, and looks, and those occasional caresses, which in the absence of the gardener (quite unnecessarily guaranteed by Frank), were their accompaniments. During one of these last Mildred shivered. ' Why, Milly darling, are you cold .^' * No,' she said, with a light laugh; 'I think a goose must have been walking over my grave.' ' Happy goose !* replied he, with some vague idea that he was not only paying a compliment, but making an epigram, and patting her cheek softly. She would have avoided such endear- ments if she could, but these tender atten- tions once encouraged in a young gentleman (and she had been wont to encourage them) LOVERS 'A LA MODE. 137 are apt to recur, and In geometrical pro- gression. ' What a complete success your mother's ball was last week,' observed Mildred, in hopes to make a diversion, and also to gain time. The twenty minutes had long been over at the expiration of which Sir Peter had promised to make his appearance, and filial instinct had never asserted Itself within her so strongly. Why did her father leave her with this maudlin fool so Ions: ? ' My mother's ball ! Why, that's a very old story — matter of history by this time. I've told you twenty times how well you looked at it.' ' You've told me so, but I am not sure that you really thought so. No, you shan't, sir ' (he was trying to get possession of her hand, presumably to squeeze it), 'till you tell me why you were so cross before supper.' * One is always cross before supper, Milly.' 138 FOR CASH ONLY. ' Yes, but you were not cross In that way ; you were distrait — thinking of some- thing else than what I was saying to you ; perhaps of some absent person. It has been upon my mind ever since.' Mr. Frank Farrer had that sort of complexion that blushes In deeper and deeper tints : It had grown scarlet through the Influence of the tender emotion and in his struggle to secure Mllly's hand ; but It now became purple. ' I don't know what you mean, Mllly.' His tone was unmistakably sulky, his straightened forehead had a pucker In It, where there should have been a frown. ' Yes, you do, sir.' ' Well, and what if I do ?' he answered resentfully : * I thought it was understood between us that bygones should be bygones. Of course I was sorry that Clare could not be at the ball ; because — because of the reason that prevented her.' Whatever were Frank Farrer's faults LOVERS 'A LA MODE. 139 nature had never intended him for a liar : the falsehood to which he had just given utterance was so transparent that the very- hesitation in his speech showed the ingen- uousness of his mind. ' Oh, I see,' said iNIildred gravely : * you were so cut up about poor ]\Ir. Lyster's illness.' ' Yes, that was it,' replied the young man naively ; ' you see I had been to call at Oak Lodge that very day.' ' To try and persuade Clare to come to the ball, I suppose.' 'Yes, my mother sent me: she did, upon my life and soul !' Milly's object had been effected, the diversion had been made ; and she was by no means anxious that Frank should protest too solemnly that Clare Lyster was now nothing to him. He had done so already, on more than one occasion, so that there was no necessity for such an assurance. It had then been her role to draw him on I40 FOR CASH ONLY. to a declaration of his devotion to herself ; but circumstances had now altered, and her tactics had to be changed with them. * No one can blame you for trying to get Clare Lyster to your ball,' she said frankly; ' she is an ornament not easily spared.' 'It is very plucky — I mean generous — of you to say so, Milly. I used to think you were rather hard on Clare ; called her tomboy and things.' * If I did, it was only in fun, Frank ; why we are fast friends.' * Ah ! that's just it,' said Frank cun- ningly ; ' you gals — why, dear me, it's like an All's Fair Steeple Chase, you run down one another so.' ' But I think Clare charming, my dear Frank — I mean even to look at, for every- one admits how' good and clever she is. Her eyes are lovely and her figure per- fection. ' * By Jingo, yes! And I don't mind her short hair ; it makes her look — I mean so LOVERS 'A LA MODE.' 141 far — like a page in a pantomime, and they are always so pretty. Now your style is quite different,' he added hastily, alarmed lest his enthusiasm had carried him too far, ' and — and — in some ways, very superior.' Milred rose and made him a stately courtesy, which increased his confusion. At the same moment Sir Peter entered. ' I hope I don't intrude,' was the quota- tion with which he greeted the unhappy young man, eked out by a significant twinkle of the eyes, which completed his discomfiture. ' Oh no ; indeed,' stammered Frank, * I assure you we were doing nothing parti- cular.' ' No doubt, no doubt,' observed Sir Peter slily ; indeed, until the idea of his daughter marrying Mr. Frank Farrer had entered his head, he had alwavs thought him the o^reatest idler and ignoramus in human form ; that ' nothing particular ' was, in short, the verv role for him. 142 FOR CASH ONLY. ' Oh, but we really weren't, Sir Peter,' pleaded the wretched youth : ' we were talking — dear me, what was It about, Mllly ? Yes, about Mr. Lyster. You know he's very bad. Sir Peter.' It was probable that Sir Peter, being Mr. Lyster's near neighbour and partner of twenty years' standing, was quite as well aware of the fact of his Indisposition as Mr. Farrer was, who lived half a dozen miles away ; but the fact was, the young gentle- man had lost his head, without which (though some averred the contrary) he could not get on as well as with it. The worthy knight, as a self-made man of very perfect construction, and his future father-in-law, excited his wonder and almost alarm, as though he had been suddenly brought Into close connection with some complicated and dangerous piece of machinery. He did not under- stand him in the least, but strove to con- ciliate him by feeble conversational efforts. LOVERS 'A LA mode: 143, which had about as much effect as a softish brush would have had upon a loco- motive. To my eyes there are few spectacles more painful than the endeavours of a weak- minded man to recommend himself to one he deems his superior, or of whom he stands in dread, by small-talk. He seems to be aware that every observation he makes is a failure, which sinks him deeper and deeper into the slough of embarrassment, and yet he zuill go on as though these offerings at the shrine of superior Wisdom and Power had been accepted. There had been a time when Sir Peter had no scruple in squashing with elephan- tine tread his young friend's rudimentary eloquence, but it had now become worth his while to encourage it. ' I know Mr. Lyster is ill, my lad, of course,' he observed with a sort of serene pity ; ' but you have heard of no new symptoms in the case, have you ?' 144 FOR CASH ONLY, 'Well, yes. You see I have been in London for the last two days ; have I not, Mildred ?' This fact being corroborated, Mr. Frank Farrer turned very red, as though his visit to town had been connected with some trouble with the police, to which it was .most Imprudent to have alluded, and began nervously to tap his teeth, and look for his horse between his knees. The fact was, in his confusion and flurry, he had clean forgotten what he was going to say. ' And did you meet anyone in town who knew Mr. Lyster ?' suggested Mildred sweetly. ' That's just what I did,' exclaimed the young man delightedly ; ' yes, that was it. I met out at dinner a Dr. Bell who had been down here to see him.' ' Yes, yes, the London '' opinion," I have heard of that,' said Sir Peter, with interest. Tt was so like Lyster to send for him with- out tellinor a soul ; but Dickson found it LOVERS ' A LA MODE. 145 out. I believe the other man wrote to him, though he was rather close upon that point. These doctors tell one another all about us, but they don't tell 2ts! ' Oh, but Dr. Bell told me all about Mr. Lyster,' observed Frank, with importance. ' The deuce he did !' exclaimed Sir Peter, surprised into a tone so unstudied that it seemed to imply, ' Then if he told yo?i> he must have told everybody.' ' Yes, he was very confidential and communicative indeed ; asked me whether Mr. Lyster was thought to be a rich man, and all sorts of questions.' Sir Peter threw a significant glance at his daughter, from which she gathered that the operation of pumping this unexpectedly interesting young man was to be continued by herself ' But it seems to me, m.y dear Frank,' she said, * that the confidential communica- tions between yourself and Dr. Bell were all on one side. What did he tell you ? VOL. I. 10 146 FOR CASH ONLY. Why did he want to know whether Mr. Lyster was rich ?' * Well, I suppose he was curious to know what he would cut up for : one always likes to know that, you know ;' and Mr. Farrer glanced instinctively at Sir Peter, concern- ing whose post-mortem affairs the young man's parents had often indulged within his hearing in the liveliest speculations. * Then Dr. Bell thought that poor Lyster was not long for this world, did he ?' in- quired Sir Peter, with an air befitting the gravity of the subject, but with his head on one side to catch the reply, and a cunning look in his eye, such as one sees in predatory birds like the raven and the magpie, which somewhat belied it. ' He did not say that ; no. I'll tell you exacdy what he did say. The fact is, I totted it down, because I thought it would be a satisfaction to you.' ' You are a deuced intelligent fellow, Frank,' cried Sir Peter, with enthusiasm. LOVERS ' A LA MODe! 147 ' And very kind and thoughtful,' added Mildred, to whose ear her father's tone had had too much of surprise in it. Frank, however, never doubted but that a compliment had been paid to him, and went on, much pleased, with his narrative. * Dr. Bell was a very quiet gentlemanly fellow, very, and for a learned man not at all stuck up in his manner ; and when I asked him point-blank what he thought of poor Mr. Lyster's case, he told me ' ' Well, yes, and what did he tell you, lad ?' inquired Sir Peter, a little impatiently^ 'Well, he said — these were his very words — "Your friend Mr. Lyster, young man, is very seriously ill. As to whether he will last into next year, I can tell you this " ' Sir Peter's eyes grew big as gooseberries in the silly season, in his earnest intentness. /Well, lad, well?' ' " I can tell you this, it all depends : if his constitution is strong enough he will do 10 — 2 148 FOR CASH ONLY. it ; and if it is not strong enough he will not do it." Yes, that was it,' added Frank, in self-corroboration of having quoted the oracle with complete correctness ; * those were his very words.' ' And that was all that passed, was it ?' inquired the knight, after a long pause. * Well, yes. Sir Peter ; except that Dr. Bell took a great quantity of snuff between every sentence, and dropped it all over the place.' CHAPTER IX. A QUESTION OF TASTE. WHATEVER might have been the London opinion on poor Mr. Lyster's case a month or two ago, by the time November had seen its last fog it was clear that he had but a few weeks to live. His frame had shrunk to skeleton limits : neither food nor wine seemed to lend him strength ; and on his cadaverous face was written, so plain that it needed no doctor to read it, the summons which brooks no denial. Yet up to the last few days he had replied to all inquiries that he was ' Better ; yes, on the whole certainly better ;' and the light of hope had seemed I50 FOR CASH ONLY. to burn, though waveringly, In his hollow eyes. What had kept him alive was known to no one but himself, as often happens ; for though we tell our fears, from some super- stitious notion that If revealed they are less likely to be fulfilled, we keep, for the same reason, oiir expectations to our- selves. No one could say that from any selfish brooding over his own condition, during these latter days, Mr. Lyster lost Interest In human affairs ; for the well-being of those dear to him, and to whom he was so soon to be a mere memory, possessed him almost wholly. Out of which arose at least this benefit, that Oak Lodge did not become a house of mourning before Its time. It is difficult, when he for whom the Shadow waits Ignores Its presence, for others to recognise how constant Is Its watch, and how close it stands. Every morning, on Mr. Lyster's waking and finding himself still alive, his first A QUESTION OF TASTE. 151 inquiry was for the post ; and the letters that his trembling hand opened with the greatest impatience had a large seal with a bird upon them. He had had a good many such, and they were all of the official kind. The secretary of the Halcyon Society was always acknowledging his favour of the — Inst., and begging to assure him that the subject of it was under the best consideration of the society. The proposition of INIr. Lyster was, however, a peculiar one, and indeed unique ; it was impossible, as he (the secretary) had already had the honour to inform him, that the Halcyon Society could deal with so gigantic a matter single-handed, but that negotiations had been opened with certain other societies, on the basis of the terms agreed upon between the Society and Mr. Lyster, and as soon as the secretary should be In a position to report progress, Mr. Lyster should be at once communicated with. 152 FOR CASH ONLY. The correspondence was polite and prompt enough, but as for the business, it hung on hand most tediously. Mr. Lyster^ a business man himself, could guess how it hung waiting for this board-room of direc- tors, and for that, postponed for some official reason or for none, and accelerated by nobody, as if weeks were of no matter, though weeks were now the sole unit of time with which he had to deal, and as if death itself were a mere fiction of the law. At last there arrived a letter more polite than all, informing him of the failure of the whole undertaking. The Halcyon, an enterprising young society, which had its way to make, would not have been un- willing to risk the insurance for a propor- tionate premium, but the older offices to which it had applied, had, after some coquetting, definitely declined to enter with them into the speculation. Mr. Lyster had taken the precaution to open this communication in his own pri- A QUESTION OF TASTE, 153 vate apartment, so that none were witnesses to the manner in which he received it : for the moment it unmanned him quite ; he lay back in his chair with the letter on his knees, as though it had been his death- warrant. But the nature of the man, as of most of those who have borne British commerce shoulder-hio^h, was to fio^ht and not to yield ; to treat misfortunes, even of the direst kind, as a bad debt to be wiped out and forgotten. Presently he rose up gently, and, taking from his desk the Halcyon correspondence (neatly and appropriately tied up with red tape), threw the whole of it into the fire ; then he took out certain accounts and compared their total, which was very seriously on the debtor's side, with the gains of the firm up to the end of the year. It left an insignificant balance to his credit. Then, for the fiftieth time, he glanced at the figures which represented the probable 154 ^OR CASH ONLY. profits of the firm for the ensuing year. Had the Halcyon consented to his pro- position, he might have counted that ^100,000, the premium, as being already in his pocket, laid up for the advantage of those who should come after him, but now — now there w^as but one means by which he could secure it to them. He must live ! To anyone who beheld his emaciated frame and wasted features, such a resolve would have seemed a mockery. But it is difficult to set limits to the victories of human perseverance. Through time and trial the juggler accom- plishes with ease what to the uninitiated seems miraculous — the whole history of perfection in a nutshell ; and would it not be possible for a man, with no other pur- pose in view but life, to live under condi- tions which would render it impossible in another whose efforts were less concen- trated on that object ? ' By Heaven, I'll live through it,' ex- A QUESTION OF TASTE. 155 claimed the sick man, striking his wasted hand upon the desk, ' if it's only to teach that fellow to have a little pluck !' The ^ fellow' was Dr. Bell, whom he thus associated most illogically with the refusal of the Halcyon to temporarily insure his life ; but the aspiration was character- istic. Neither he nor his partner, Sir Peter, had been ever deficient in commer- cial courage, and, to say truth, in audacity ; and they had a very considerable contempt for those who were. What had helped to waste and wear John Lyster for the last few weeks had been anxiety as to the course that might be taken by others ; he was anxious now, but one of the w^orst factors of apprehension had been eliminated — dependence. The fight was now between Fate and him alone. He rose somewhat more feebly than nature dictated, with the idea of husbanding his strength ; his face showed it. It had lost its haggard look. As he entered the drawing-room he 156 FOR CASH ONLY. heard a voice near to him observe with some heat: * I am quite content to leave the matter to my uncle's judgment.' * And what is it you want my opinion upon, Herbert ?' The reply of Mr. Lyster in his own proper person to this appeal to him seemed to discompose not only the person who made it, but the other two occupants of the apartment, who were Clare and Percy. All three looked confused and embarrassed. ' I did not really mean to trouble you, Uncle John,' exclaimed Herbert, ' but we were having a discussion, and I promised to make you referee.' ' A discussion ?' ' Well, hardly that,' explained Percy, with his pleasant smile, which he had not, however, been previously wearing, as the old man had noticed on his entrance. * We were merely arguing a question of taste ; nothing of any consequence.' A QUESTION OF TASTE. 137 ' There I differ from you/ said Herbert, in his resolute way. ' Come, Clare,' smiled the old man, seating himself by his daughter's side, and taking her hand, whicli trembled a little, in his own : ' what is this matter which, weighty or not, it seems requires an umpire to decide ?' * It is about this book — a new novel — " Butterflies" is the name of it — which Percy recommends and Herbert objects to ; I really cannot Imagine' (this with a re- proachful look at her cousin) ' It can be worth making such a fuss about.' ' I am content that your father shall judge between Percy and me,' said Herbert. Percy laughed sardonically. ' I mean upon the merits of the ques- tion,' said Herbert. ' Pray put myself and Percy out of your mind, sir. If you do not think it a vile book, altogether unfit to be In a young lady's hand ' 158 FOR CASH ONLY. * My cousin lent it me,' put in Percy gently; 'the authoress is Mildreds favourite writer.' * Then I do not envy Miss Fibbert her taste.' ' Quiet, quiet,' said the sick man, looking from one young fellow to the other, with grave face. ' You have both read it, of course T Percy nodded ; Herbert said : ' No, sir, I have something else to do than to read such stuff ; but I know what it is about.' ' By intuition, I suppose }' said Percy. ' I dare say he has read some review of it.' 'That is quite true, and it gave me' — here he made a s^esture of disgust — ' no wish to make any nearer acquaintance with the thing itself * Still if you have not read it, Herbert,' said Mr. Lyster gently, ' and Percy has, he ought to know more about It ; and if he A QUESTION OF TASTE. 159 sees no objection to Clare's reading it — • recommends it even, she says — eh ?' He looked doubtfully at Percy, and took up the volume in dispute. ' What's it all about — what's the plot ?' 'Well, that would be unfair to the author,' hesitated Percy; 'one mustn't judge from extracts : besides, I could scarcely tell you just now, sir.' ' That is to say, he cannot explain before Clare,' observed Herbert scornfully, ' the story he has given Clare to read.' ' Pooh, pooh ! ril look at it myself this evening,' said i\Ir. Lyster, with a frown. ' Now you have become an engineer, Herbert, you want to break Butterflies upon wheels, it seems.' The little pleasantry was well-intended, but it failed to smooth matters. It was never easy to stir Herbert from any position he had taken up ; while Percy, though for the present he might well con- sider he had got the better of his adver- i6o FOR CASH ONLY. sary, looked very 111 satisfied. Clare, the un- willing cause of this disagreement, sat with troubled brow, wishing 'Butterflies' In the fire or the sea. Upon the whole she pre- ferred Herbert's judgment to that of Percy, but then she preferred Percy to Herbert ; and since the former, her destined husband, had brought her the book, she was naturally distressed to hear his taste questioned, and ■disinclined to find fault with It. The most uncomfortable of the whole party, however, save for the thought which dominated hlrt), and compared with which all others were of small account, would have been Mr. Lyster himself. The rivalry between Percy and Herbert was known to him, though not to Clare. The girl only knew that the young men ' got on badly together,' and thought it a pity that was so, since each was so nice In his way ; but she quite understood that those ways were different and Incompatible with friendship. Her father knew that and much more. A QUESTION OF TASTE. i6i To say that Mr. Lyster loved Herbert as his own son would, alas, have conveyed a very inadequate idea of his regard for him : he liked him better than any human being, except Clare; and if anything besides the certainty of the prolongation of his own life could now have given him pleasure, it would have been the knowledge that he and Clare were to be man and wife. This had been the dream of his later life, but, as we know, fate had decided otherwise. It was one of the great merits of the Stoke- ville people that they were in their own way virtuous, and appreciated one another — that is to say, within limits, for some virtues were not in their ken — as they really deserved. There was, of course, a good deal of shoddy in the place ; the admiration of its drawing-room folks for the magistrates of the county — who were not manufacturers — such as the Farrers, for example, rose to sublimity ; but the very ex- cess of it rendered it harmless by making it VOL. I. II i62 FOR CASH ONLY. ridiculous. And the male Stokevlllites had scarcely any of it. It was with difficulty, as we h^ve seen, that Sir Peter could conceal his contempt for young Frank Farrer, while he had expressed himself with what, for him, was enthusiasm when speaking of Herbert Newton. And Mr. Lyster, who knew more about Herbert than Sir Peter did, estimated him still more highly. Amongst country folk, admiration for one's neighbour is of very slow growth. Examples of intelligence are so rare among them, that it is perhaps not worth while to be on the look-out for them ; they are con- tent to wait until distinction has been conferred on them from without, when they honestly confess ' Although they Uved next door They never knew this famous man t>efore.' But in manufacturing towns, where scientific geniuses spring up pretty often, things are different. There were many men in Stoke- ville who had predicted a golden future for A QUE ST 10 xX OF TASTE. 163 Herbert Newton, and Mr. Lyster was one of them. In all thino^s concerning: which that gentleman might pretend to have some knowledge, the lad distinguished himself, and had given promise of much more. His conduct, except for a certain obstinacy which had occasionally opposed itself four-square to authority itself, had been always what it should be ; a man, a Stokeville in its literary Philistinism termed it, thoroughly ' reliable,' diligent, perse- vering, ingenious, patient — in a word, * bound to w^in.' Beside Air. Lyster's knowledge of these facts, there were peculiar reasons that en- deared this young man to him. First, his son had turned out a ne'er-do-well, and in Herbert he had found, in some sort, a sub- stitute for him, to whose loving care he might leave Clare with confidence ; and then he had done, or might do (for the matter was not yet certain), a great wrong to Herbert Newton, which perhaps made 1 1 — 2 i64 FOR CASH ONLY, him yearn towards him more than all. He had not done It in Ignorance either, but the wrong had seemed so far off that he had shut It out from his calculations — which, alas, had proved erroneous. He well knew that Herbert would never have so behaved to him, which was wormwood ; but it was the very * unlikeness ' of the lad's nature to his own, the sense that the other was rich where he was poor, that enhanced his admiration for him. But now since Clare had chosen for herself, though in his judg- ment wrongly, Mr. Lyster felt that he should do what he could to make things pleasant. He had been very careful, since her engagement had been settled, to be civil to the man who would hold his daughter's future in his hands, and not to show favouritism to Herbert. But the recollection of past years, during which in all the squabbles at the mill he had backed Herbert, and during which, at home, he had been his father, elder brother, and A QUESTION OF TASTE. 165 friend in one, could not, as he was well aware, be easily effaced from a mind so sensitive to impressions as Percy's. Hence it was that this new disagreement between the two young men was very painful to the sick man, though he strove to make light of it. 'What does it matter ?' he w^as saying to himself, even now ; ' what does anything matter if I can only live a little longer ?' A method of mitigating calamity which, though philosophic enough, has never been of much practical utility. The position was very unpleasant for all parties, and the silence aggravated its embarrassment. Percy was the first to break it ; it was more essential for him than for any of the others to make matters smooth, and perhaps he was the only one equal to that task. He had perfect self-possession, a winning manner, and that sort of wit which turns, if it cannot blunt, the sword-point of anta- gonism ; he had tact too, which led him in the present instance not to shirk the subject 1 66 FOR CASH ONLY. in dispute (which would have been a tacit acknowledgment of its importance), but to return to it> though in light fashion. ' It does really astonish me, Newton' — he never called him by his Christian name, as the rest of the world did, down to the mill- hands — ' to find you so hard upon these lady-novelists. You spare neither sex nor (as I should judge in the present instance, since the authoress has written a good many novels) age.' ' I said nothing against lady-novelists,* answered Herbert in a tone the gravity of which contrasted curiously with the other's airy trifling. ' On the contrary, I think some of them beat the men. I only spoke of that section of them who deliberately, and for the sake of popularity, write with familiarity upon matters on which, I do not say no lady, but no honest young woman, should ever so much as think. Moreover, what is still worse, they endeavour to per- suade their readers that all English gentle- A QUESTION OF TASTE. 167 men are like the fashionable scoundrels they depict, and all English ladies are — ■ well, like themselves. It is quite a new plague in letters.' ' Nay ; there you are wrong, my dear fellow. In reading an old English classic the other day, I came across this passage concerning novel- writing : '' That branch of business is now engrossed by female writers, who publish for the propagation of virtue, with so much ease and spirit and delicacy, with knowledge of the human heart, and all in the serene tranquillity of high life, that the reader is not only en- chanted by their genius, but reformed by their morality." ' ' Gad, that's good !' smiled ]\Ir. Lyster. ' Who says it T ' Smollett, sir.' ' Then Smollett was a prophet as well as a satirist,' exclaimed Herbert. ' What a memory you have, Percy !' re- marked Clare, admiringly. ' I can repeat 1 68. FOR CASH ONLY. poetry pretty well, if it takes hold of me ; but prose, never.' ' That is because your own life is not prosaic as ours is,' said Percy gently ; 'the extract dwelt in my mind from its applica- tion to matters of the present day ; for though I did venture just now to champion poor Milly's views about " Butterflies," I am, on the whole, of Newton's opinion.' Percy's treatment of this topic was skilfulness itself. The literary illustration, "J the allusion to his cousin, and the apparent agreement with his adversary, save on the minor point, all worked together in his favour, and nothing more, perhaps, would have been heard of the subject of dispute but for an unlooked-for incident. At this moment Gerald entered, accom- panied as usual by a strong smell of tobacco-smoke. The sight of the family conclave a little alarmed him, for he didn't like family conclaves ; he suspected them of having: reference to his own peccadilloes. A QUESTION OF TASTE. 169 His father's mild ' How are you, Gerald ?' however, reassured him. In these latter days J\Ir. Lyster's manner had been tender, almost pleading, with his son ; perhaps because his time on earth was growing so short, but also, it is fair to say, because Gerald's own behaviour had decidedly im- proved. He still absented himself a good deal from home, but that could be borne ; while under the paternal roof his ways had become quiet, and even subdued. ' I really hope Gerald is turning over a new leaf,' Clare had said to Percy. ' It is possible,' he had answered with a shrug of his shoulders, and in a tone which seemed to add, ' everything is pos- sible.' She had made the same observation to Herbert, and he had answered grimly : ' You are sanguine.' ' But what does it mean — I mean his being so docile and practicable all of a sudden }' I/O FOR CASH ONLY. ' Mischief/ ' You never seem to credit poor Gerald with a good motive,' she had replied almost angrily. And Herbert had not disputed that Im- putation. His Ideas were fixed upon that point, as well they might be. For when a young gentleman of seventeen has been convicted of pouring paraffin on a live cat and setting fire to it, It is difficult for any one but a humanitarian to entertain much hope of him. Clare did not know about the cat, but she knew of other things which made her much more distrustful of her half-brother's comma- to Qrood than she cared to admit. To see him glance at Percy (whom he feared), and at Herbert (whom he hated), and at his sister (whom he envied), and then at his father (on whose death and Its consequences he was aWays speculating), and In that stealthy furtive way which his feline victim might have bequeathed to A QUESTION OF TASTE. 171 him, did not open a very promising moral vista. He had come for something which just at present he could not obtain (it was a pecuniary loan from Clare), and, as he could scarcely leave the room immediately and without explanation, went wandering up and down it, taking up this and that, after the manner of such cubs in a draw- ing-room. ' Hullo, Clare, I congratulate you !' he suddenly exclaimed ; ' you have got a readable book from the library at last. I can't say my taste is yours in a general way, but here I am with you. It's the most scrumptious novel out.' And he held up that unfortunate copy of ' Butterflies ' Mr. Lyster had by this time well-nigh forgotten, and which Percy had made up his mind to drop in his pocket and never to bring back again. * Give me that book,' said his father. ' What ! are yo7c going to read it, governor } Oh lor !' 172 FOR CASH ONLY, ' Yes, I am, since It has been so fortu- nate as to secure your approbation.' And he took possession of It accord- ingly. It has been said that It Is better for the fortunes of a book to be abused by the critics than not to be noticed at all ; but there are some critics from whom praise Is such a doubtful compliment that obscurity Is preferable to It. CHAPTER X. A HALF-LIE. HERBERT still occupied the same lodgings in Stokeville that he had used while engaged with Fibbert and Lyster, since the town was within easy dis- tance of the Junction, where he was now employed ; and he was quite as often a guest at Oak Lodge as formerly. This was at the special desire of his uncle, however, rather than from his own wishes ; if he had consulted them he would have avoided the house where Percy was now a constant visitor, and of which it was certain he would at no distant date be the master. It was a bitter cup to him to watch the 174 FOR CASH ONLY, young couple whispering their soft nothings together, and to see them fly apart and become suddenly immersed in yester- day's newspaper whenever he entered the room ; not because Percy was in his eyes a successful rival, but because the treasure that he valued so highly was about to pass into what he deemed un- worthy hands. He had not Percy's dex- terity and readiness of resource, either, to avoid disagreement or to escape from its consequences ; and therefore he sought safety in silence, save — as in the case we have just seen — where harm seemed to threaten Clare, and imperatively to demand his interference. He withdrew himself from the society of the other two as much as possible, and always remained with his uncle after dinner, while the young couple looked through the portfolios in the draw- ing-room — a favourite occupation, I notice, with engaged couples, as bringing them very closely together, and admitting of little endearments between the large leaves. A HALF-LIE, 175 They were engaged as usual in this artistic pastime on the evening of the day on which that question of taste in novels had arisen ; and apropos of a view of the pride of Milan, Percy asked : ' Would you like to be married in a cathedral, Clare ?' ' That would depend on who was to marry me,' was her reply. ' If it was a prince, or even an hereditary grand duke, It would be appropriate enough.' ' I see ; but with a poor fellow like me you would prefer a register-office ?' Of course she told him (for she was not High Church ; the cult, indeed, was un- known in Stokeville) that the simple rites of a register-office with him would be more satisfactory than the most gorgeous solemnities with an Imperial Majesty. ' That is spoken like yourself,' he said ; ' you would never throw me over for any- one else, would you T ' Anyone else ?' she echoed, in a tone 1 76 FOR CASH ONLY. that seemed to Imply that in all the world, In the matrimonial market at least, there was nobody to be compared with Mr. Percy Fibbert. ■ And you'd stick to me in spite of everybody; ''though father and mother and a should go mad," as you were sing- Ino- yesterday ?' * My dear Percy, you must be going mad yourself,' she answered earnestly. ' What do you mean ?' Well, I mean to be your husband, Patty ; but even yet there may be obstacles ; — don't look frightened, darling ! • — I mean, there may be endeavours to cause a slip between the cup and ' Here he kissed her, as though he were composing a picture-letter. 'It's a dead secret, and there may be no- thing in it, and if there is, it dbn't matter, for you are mine for ever ; but things are not looking quite so rosy as they were for us. ' ' But, Percy, I can't imagine what you mean. Papa has given his consent. You A HALF-LIE. 177 don't suppose that anything which hap- pened to-day — such a miserable trifle ' * No, no, darling,' he interrupted, smiling; ' you needn't look so like a startled fawn. Your father, as you say, has consented, though not very graciously, I am afraid. I am no favourite of his, though I think from no fault of my own.' ' No, darling ; from no fault I am sure, though it is a very sad misfortune. And he is not one to go back from his word.' ' There I agree with you — unless his pride was wounded. If he thought, for example, that my uncle objected to it.' ' But Sir Peter has all along approved of our marriaofe. ' So it seemed ; indeed, so it may be still : but a hint has been dropped to me that his views have been altered.' ' His views } What have his views to do with us ?' cried Clara, with a flush on her cheek and a flame in her grey eyes. * I mean he has no right to alter them.' VOL. I. 12 178 FOR CASH ONLY. ' Of course he has no right ; but with him, unfortunately, might is right. Because he has thirty thousand a year, or twenty, or ten — Heaven knows which it is, I don't, nor care neither — he thinks he can do as he pleases.' * But, Percy, this is monstrous. Why should your uncle have changed his views }' ' I can scarcely tell you, darling ; I can, myself, only guess at the reason why my- self and — and — it is rather difficult to explain. Milly has been here a good deal lately, has she not .^' ' Mildred ? Yes, she has ; but what has that to do with it ?' ' Nothing; or, at least, it may be nothing. I am only hazarding a guess. What has she come about ?' 'Well, I suppose, about poor papa. Since he is so very ill, it is only natural. And of course I cannot get to the Hall myself.' ' True ; and her manner has not struck you as being different in any way T A HALF-LIE. 179 * Perhaps she has been graver than usual, but that was to be expected.' * Has she been asking no questions ?' * About us ? No, none at all. She takes all that, of course, for granted. She has meant, I am sure, to be very kind, though I did not much like it ; such things jar on me.' * What things ?' ' Well, T scarcely like to say ; girls are so different. Milly can talk, for instance, of what will take place if anything should happen to her father, quite coolly. She says she is a woman of business.' ' Then her character must have lately developed in that direction,' observed Percy, smiling. ' Well, so I should have said myself. She has taken, however, to talk about my future, hoping that I shall be as well off as everybody expects — as if I expected or thought of such things — and speaking of dear papa as though he were already dead and gone ; and I don't like it, Percy, though 12 — 2 i8o FOR CASH ONLY. of course she means it kindly. *' I take such an interest in your affairs, dear Clare," she tells me, when I remonstrate/ * Aye, and she does,' said Percy, so sig- nificantly that Clare looked up amazed. * My darling ! this is a matter,' he con- tinued earnestly, ' concerning which I have been in two minds as to whether I ought to speak of it to you or not.' ' Of course you ought to speak of it, if it concerns yourself, Percy,' she answered ten- derly ; ' for you and I are one.' * Just so ; that is what you must re- member, darling, whatever happens. No matter what arguments are used, nor who uses them. Yes !' He said this with great emphasis, yet looked at her with a certain tender in- decision. His handsome face was what is called a speaking one, and he was a master of the art of suggestion as well as of ex- pression. * If you are hesitating on my account, A HALF-LIE, iSi Percy, I pray you not to do so. Do not spare me. I can bear anything but suspense, and — and,' she added beneath her breath, ' separation.' ' It is not you, darling, of whom I am thinking,' sighed Percy ; ' I mean as to '' sparing ;" and you must pardon my hesi- tation, for the matter is very difficult to explain.' It was not only difficult but delicate. The fact was, that Sir Peter had dropped the day before a very broad hint to his nephew concerning the possibility of ^^Ir. Lyster not ' cutting up ' so well as was expected, and of the necessity that there would be in that case of his (Percy's) break- ing off his engagement. ' The firm,' he said, ' wants money ; we are about to extend our transactions much more widely in view of this great revival of trade, and I will not have my nephew, who is also my partner, marrying into a pauper's family.' i82 FOR CASH ONLY. Instead of getting into a passion, as Sir Peter hoped, Percy had merely pointed out that his word was pledged, and that he could not draw back from his engagement without Clare's consent. ' That's just it,' said Sir Peter eagerly : * she is not one to bring an action for damages, so you are safe there ; and she's devilish high-spirited. It is true she has got over her own father's objection to the match ? And I am precious glad now that he did object ; but if she was made aware that I myself had (for whatever reason) become opposed to it, her pride would be wounded, and she would let you slip at once.' Percy admitted this even to himself. Nothing would have been easier than to have slipped out of marrying Clare Lyster; and unless he himself openly offered re- sistance to his uncle's iron will (which he did not dare to do), he felt that that gentle- man's scheme was likely to take effect. A HALF-LIE, 183 On the other hand, Clare was a woman ; and if her jealousy could be aroused, that, in addition to her strong sense of justice, and her complete confidence in his affection, would render her adamant. He did love her vehemently, madly, after his fashion, and had not the least intention of giving her up. Even should Sir Peter's suspicions as to his partner's circumstances prove correct (which he deemed improbable) he would still have married her ; for though greedy of money he was yet more fond of having his own way. Clare looked at him with puzzled face. ' Your words, Percy, grow more and more mysterious. If Sir Peter has altered his views, and wishes to withdraw his consent to our marriage — well, I will not say what I think about him, as he is your uncle ; but I confess I don't see why you should spare him in talking to me.' Her colour was high, her voice was firm; it was clear that Sir Peter's view of her 1 84 FOR CASH ONLY. character had been a correct one. She was growing very indignant. ' My darling, it is not Sir Peter — or rather, he is urged on, as I am convinced, in this matter by some one else, who has her own reasons for wishing our marriage to be broken off.' ' Is it possible you mean your cousin Mildred ?' He nodded. ' Yes, I am shocked and ashamed to say that I believe it is. It is all the more dreadful because she allows it to be under- stood that Frank Farrer is paying atten- tions to her. The fact, however, is as I state it. Of course she would deny it, and we must keep the secret to ourselves, but that is the key of it. She is jealous of you.' Clare for a moment looked incredulous. Then she called to mind what Gerald had said about Percy having proposed to her because his cousin had refused him, or A HALF-LIE. 185 would not accept him. There might then be just this scintilla of truth in the state- ment (which she had hitherto set down to sheer ill-nature on Gerald's part) that Mildred loved Percy. Was it not likely that she should love him ? Who could help it ? On the other hand, how un- maidenly and disgraceful it was in his cousin, when he had made his choice, thus to strive to come between them ! ' If this is true, Percy, I shall tell Mildred what I think of her.' ' Then you will ruin me,' said Percy simply, ' Do you suppose she would ever forgive me for having told you the truth ? No ; she would make Sir Peter my enemy for life. I have told you all, under the seal of secrecy, because I had confidence in your judgment as well as in your fidelity. I hope, dear Clare, that confidence is not misplaced !' ' What is it you would have me do ? said she hoarsely. Her face was very i86 FOR CASH ONLY. white ; she held the hand which he had placed in hers with spasmodic tightness. ' Nothing ; I would only have you be secret and quite firm. You will never give me up, I know, at the bidding of another woman.' ' Indeed I will not. If you really love me, nothing shall part us.' ' That is what I told my uncle — I mean as to my own intentions,' he added hastily, marking her quick flush. ' He felt that nothing could move me, but he hopes by appealing to your pride to get you to throw me over.' ' What, into Mildred's arms ?' ' Well, he didn't say that, of course ; but I know what it all meant. She has been angling for me ever so long, and is now desperate.' * ' This is shocking — horrible, Percy !' ' Then think what it must have cost me to disclose it to you. For a man to have to say such things of a young woman — and A HALF-LIE. 187 his own cousin too — is beyond measure painful. But I was obliged to tell you. I saw no other way out of It.' * But how shall I see her, how shall I speak to her when she comes to-morrow ?' * Just as usual. Keep on saying to your- self, "If she suspects that I know about her, my Percy is ruined." To be forewarned is to be forearmed ; we now know exactly what we are about.' Clare passed her hand over her forehead, as if she was very far from knowing. ' You have distressed me beyond measure,' she said. ' I can see that ; I felt only too sure that it would be so ; but I had no alter- native. Whatever pressure Is put upon you, darling, remember from whence It comes, and cling to the man who loves you.' He clasped her in his arms, and kissed her. ' I .shall leave you now,' he said, ' for I am sure you will be better alone. Good-night — good-night.' 1 88 FOR CASH ONLY. Upon the whole, Percy congratulated himself upon the result of this coup. He felt that he had bound Clare to him as with links of iron. If he had known what was going on in Mr. Lyster's study at that moment, he would perhaps have con- gratulated himself still more. Of course he was playing a very dangerous game ; but he could rely upon Clare's not revealing to anyone the secret he had so ingeniously in- vented. Curiously enough, his fiction had some foundation in fact : his cousin Mildred was really in love with him ; but as for her father furthering her views in that direction, he would as soon have thought of setting fire to the Fibbert Museum. CHAPTER XL IN COXFIDE^XE. ' T T is a nasty book — a vile, prurient A book !' exclaimed Mr. Lyster angrily; he was pointing to the unfortunate novel that had been the subject of dispute that morning, as though it had been ' Black- beetles ' instead of ' Butterflies.' It lay upon his study-table, half read- — which was all it was likely to be — and his observations upon it were addressed to Herbert Newton, sitting opposite to him, with his eyes steadfastly fixed upon the fire. ' I knew you would not like it, sir, and I knew you would not like Clare to read it. 1 90 FOR CASH ONLY. That was why I remonstrated with Percy against putting it into her hands.' ' Like it ! Like a book which treats of a woman marrying her lover to her own daughter ! It is not fit for a man to read, much more a girl.' 'It is to be remembered, however, that many girls do read it. Taste is very different to what it was in your day : more- over, neither you nor I are perhaps very good judges of novels.' ' I admit that ; but one knows what is poisonous. One would think that any man who gave such a book to the girl he was engaged to marry must do it with some vile motive — to debauch her mind.' ' No, no, sir ; you are going too far,' exclaimed the other earnestly. ' I almost regret that I brought it under your notice. Good heavens ! what are you at, uncle ?' With an exclamation of wrath and dis- gust the sick man had thrown the book into the fire, and at the same moment IN CONFIDENCE. 191 Struck his right hand against the mantel- piece with such violence that he sank into his chair with a feeble cry of pain, * It is nothing,' he murmured, looking at the blood as the other wiped it away with his handkerchief; 'the pain is nothing as compared with what I feel here,' and he indicated his heart with his other hand. ' To think that I must leave my darling, body and soul, in the power of that man.' The same thought was in Herbert's mind also, but, far from giving it expression, he did his best to rob it of its barb. ' You must not charge Percy hastily, uncle ; he is still very young, and Mildred, with whom he has been brought up, is so altogether unlike your daughter. Men judge of women ' by their own female belongings, and he does not understand your daughter.' ' Nor does she understand him,' replied the old man bitterly. ' She thinks him noble, generous, and straightforward.' 192 FOR CASH ONLY. ' And since she is to be his wife it is better for her to think it,' answered Herbert. ' My prayer is that her eyes may never be opened.' The old man shook his head. ' Such glamour does not last ; and when she comes to know him as he is, the dis- enchantment will be terrible.' 'After all, we may both be wrong,' urged Herbert ; ' and we are scarcely fair judges, at least I know I am not. With others, who have had equal opportunities of knowing him, Percy Fibbert is a great favourite.' ' Yes ; he is clever enough — too clever.' ' Above all, uncle, he loves Clare. That, at least, must be conceded to him, and — and — that of course is a great matter.' ' Her love will not reclaim him,' answered the sick man inexorably. ' I have looked at the matter all round a thousand times, Herbert ; my darling has chosen ill for herself/ Herbert too had looked at the matter as IN CONFIDENCE, 193 often, and thought the same, but it was no part of his duty to strengthen the other's sad presentiments. ' Let us hope for the best, uncle,' he said. The old man smiled scornfully. * When we come, as I have come, Herbert, to the brink of our own grave, that sort of hope grows very thin, and we see through it the facts beyond it.' There was a loner silence, durinor which each sat — the old man and the young — wrapped in his own bitter thoughts. They were like a father and son who (as some- times happens) have associated with that relationship that of elder and younger brother. ' Herbert, my hand hurts me very much; it was foolish of me to give way to passion.' In his own mind he felt it to have been madness, for with his health in so critical a state, even a lame hand might help to beckon death to come a little quicker. VOL. I. i^ 194 FOR CASH ONLY. ' Sit down and write a line for me to Mr. Roden.' Mr. Roden was an uncle of Clare's by the mother's side, and she had shared with him, which he had not a little resented, their father's wealth. That had happened so long ago, however, that the grievance had almost ceased to exist, and he was on friendly terms with the Lysters. But up to this time, though repeatedly invited, he had never paid a visit to Stokeville. He was a dilettante and a valetudinarian, a bachelor who almost lived at his club, and rarely left town except for Brighton. Mr. Lyster and he had occasionally met in town, but they had nothing In common, and rather despised one another. Herbert, who knew the relation between them, in- voluntarily lifted his eyebrows as he took up his pen. * You are thlnkinof It strangle,' said Mr. Lyster, ' that I should have anything to say to Mr. Roden at a time like this. But IN CONFIDENCE. 195 when one Is dying one clings, as If one was drowning, to straws. When I am gone, Clare will be absolutely without a counsellor. It had been my hope that you yourself ' Herbert shook his head. ' No, sir. I should be of no use In that way ; Indeed, I should be worse than use- less. Any Interference of mine would be resented excessively.' * No doubt — though not, I am sure, by Clare,' answered the other earnestly. He had had In his mind quite another hope respecting Herbert ; but It was just as well that he had been thus prevented from attending to It. Perhaps the oth^r read his thoughts in his face, for the pen trembled in his hand. Our tender might-have-beens are like the jessamine and the rose, which can turn even strong men sick and faint. * What shall I write, sir ? I have only 2:ot the date, December 6th.' ' The sixth ? Alas, I hoped it was 13—2 196 FOR CASH ONLY. the seventh,' murmured the other, uncon- sciously. ' Why the seventh ?' ' Aye, you may well say that, lad,' answered the sick man, recovering himself, and calling up a smile. ' The fancies of a sick man are Inexplicable, even to himself. Go on, please, from my dictation : ' Dear Roden, ' I am In very bad health — so bad that, unless you come to see us this Christ- mas, I fear we shall never meet again. I especially wish you to make the acquaint- ance of your niece ; remember you are the only near relative she will possess when I am gone. We shall be able to make you pretty comfortable, I hope, at Oak Lodge, and I am sure my partner, Sir Peter, will do everything In his power to make your stay at Stokevllle agreeable. * Yours faithfully, 'John Lyster.' IN CONFIDENCE, 197 ' Does he know Sir Peter ?' inquired Herbert. ' Not personally. But don't you recollect, when Roden dined with us at the club in town, how handsomely he spoke of him ?' ' To be sure/ laughed Herbert ; ' about the museum, and so on. Mr. Roden seemed to be much impressed by our Stokeville magnates. I should think he liked big people generally. He didn't like my calling him uncle, I remember — I sup- pose, because I wasn't big enough.' ' On the contrary, it was because you were too big : Roden affects to be young still. He will not be much good to Clare, I fear ; but he will be better than nobody ; and he is her natural guardian. I'll get Oldcastle to meet him.' ]\Ir. Oldcastle was Mr. Lyster's lawyer. ' But he always goes away at Christmas into Berkshire.' ' True ; I had forgotten that. Add this postscript to the letter : 198 FOR CASH ONLY. ' If you can come at once to us, so much the better ; it will probably be more convenient, as I know men like you are sought after in scores of country houses about Christmas time. * Then just add that I am employing you as my amanuensis because I have lamed my hand.' ' That is a little strong, uncle ; I mean about the country houses — isn't it ?' said Herbert doubtfully. ' Not a bit of it ; it's just the thing to tickle Roden.' A touch of scorn lit up the old man's face for a moment, and then he was himself again — helpless, well-nigh hopeless, ill and worn, at the fag end of his days. ' I think, uncle, it will be well to let that matter drop,' said Herbert, nodding towards the fire, where the blackened leaves of the burnt book still curled and shrivelled. ' I am very sorry that I began with it.' IN CONFIDENCE. 199 ' You were not to blame, lad, you were right ; but, as you say, let it be. Perhaps silence is always best when speaking cannot mend matters.' Though the sentiment was general and axiomatic enough, to the speaker at least it seemed to demand some explanation. ' It is useless, I mean,' Mr. Lyster went on. ' to tell the whole sum of a calamity when it may not happen, and when to tell it cannot arrest it.' * No doubt,' said Herbert, thinking the other spoke of Clare. * On the other hand, it is terrible to think what it costs to find things out for ourselves.' ' Yet, when one comes to know, lad,' and the sick man laid his hand on the other's knee, ' one is not necessarily angry with those who have not told us — who have not had the courage to tell us.' * Surely not, uncle.' ' But suppose, before their deaths, they had not only held their tongues, but wronged 200 FOR CASH ONLY. US — were the cause, indeed, though the unwilling cause, of our misfortunes. Would that not alter matters, think you ?' ' Not with me, if I were the wronged person,' said Herbert simply. ' You would forgive them, would you ? You would not harbour resentment ao^alnst a dead man ?' ' I don't say that,' answered the young man coldly. * I never understood why bad folks should be liked better because they are no more.' * ' But if a man did not mean to hurt you, though he did it,' persisted the other, ' and it came out after his death, with other things to his discredit, perhaps, and you had loved one another all along ?' * Then I should love him no less, sir, but pity him from the bottom of my heart. Would you not do the same ?' ' I suppose so ; yes, that would be the way,' mused the other ; but though his IN CONFIDENCE. 201 tone was indifferent, his eyes were full of tears. * Among other things that trouble me, Herbert,' he resumed, after a long silence, ' there is Gerald. When I am gone there will be no one to exercise any authority over him. Would you consent to be his guardian till he comes of age ?' ' I will do anything to oblige you, sir ; but I frankly tell you I think such an appointment would be injudicious. Gerald does not like me.' ' He likes no one but himself, I fear,^ answ^ered the old man bitterly. Herbert could have undeceived his uncle upon that point, had he chosen to do so ; the scandal about Rachel Warder had not yet reached Mr. Lyster's ears, though it had those of Sir Peter. * He is very young,' observed Herbert apologetically. ' In my opinion, till a man comes of age, his thoughts are generally fixed upon himself. Men do not, as a rule, 202 FOR CASH ONLY. act upon what is called principle till they come to years of maturity/ It was curious to hear so young a man as Herbert Newton discoursing in this philo- sophic manner, but he was one who from very early years had been thrown upon his own mental resources, and such men, if they think at all, do their thinking early. As for mere money, he had ten thousand pounds of his own, which, on his coming of age, he had placed in his uncle's hands to be in- vested in the mill ; but money was with him mere means to an end — most of the proceeds from it, in the way of interest, had been spent in scientific experiments. ' But poor Gerald gives no promise of good,' sighed Mr. Lyster. 'Nay, I would not say that, sir. He is by no means without talents, though they are of a mechanical sort. He is clever with his pencil, and still cleverer with his pen. When check-clerk of the mill his books were quite a model,' IN CONFIDENCE, 203 * Only he wouldn't keep them/ put In the old man drily. * That was a bitter day for me, when my son — my own son, was de- graded from his post. What is the use of talent when its possessor Is an idler and a good-for-naught ?' ' He needs some incentive to industry, no doubt,' said Herbert. 'Well, he will have that,' said the old man sternly. ' Perhaps you are right about the guardianship — I will think it over. Come, let us join Clare ; I heard Percy leave the house an hour ago, and Gerald is out as usual, so she is quite alone.' ' Clare has gone to her own room,' said Herbert quietly. ' She went when Percy went — I heard her step upon the stairs.' CHAPTER XII. GOSSIP. A MAN with two bankers is certainly in a noble condition, since he must needs possess two balances ; but a man with two lawyers is not generally in better plight than a man with one, and is perhaps still less to be envied than one with none at all. As to two doctors, I am not so sure of the comparative advantage of the situation, though it undoubtedly enables one to follow the best advice — that of the physician who recommends the more liberal diet. What certainly detracts from the charm of the last two positions (for wath regard to the bankers, alas, I have no ex- perience) is, however, this fact, that No. i GOSSIP, 205 Solicitor and No. i Doctor each object to the employment of No. 2. And with this fact Sir Peter Fibbert, as a man of the world and a man of business, was well acquainted. He knew things in general, in a rough material way, and did not shut his ears to anything, not even to gossip, with which latter we may be quite sure that a man in his position, who showed himself eager for it, found plenty of people to supply him withal. So well, however, had the secret of Dr. Bell's visit to Oak Lodge been kept, that until Frank Farrer informed him of the fact. Sir Peter was not aware of it. On the next occasion of his meeting Dr. Dixon, which happened on the average about twice a day— for the stout little doctor attended the families of all the Stokeville magnates, and his hard- worked but speedy horses clattered over its paved streets from morn till eve — he stopped that gentleman's brougham for a few minutes' talk. 2o6 FOR CASH ONLY. ' Well, Dixon, how goes it ? Trade as brisk as ever ? Cough, catarrh, consump- tion, in full blow, eh ?' ' Yes, Sir Peter, thanks to you and your great chimneys, there is a considerable difficulty in breathing.' 'Ah!' Sir Peter was fonder of his own wit than that of his neighbours, and especially of that of his humbler neighbours ; but the doctor, though comparatively poor in purse, was rich in humour, and of an indepen- dent spirit. ' It's something worse than smoke that ails my old friend at Oak Lodge, I reckon. What is your last report of him ?' The doctor, who was a kindly man when not brushed the wrong way, shook his head gravely. ' He's bad. Sir Peter, bad. I see a change for the worse every time I call. I fear he is not long for this world.' 'No, I fear not ; yet there is no oc- GOSSIP. 207 casion for him to hurry out of it, which he has taken steps to do, I hear.' ' I don't understand you. * Why, has he not sent for another doctor ? But you may not have heard of it ; perhaps I am indiscreet.' ' You should say rather misinformed,* said the other coldly, but turning very red. ' Oh no ; I am quite certain of my in- formation. Mr. Lyster has had an opinion from London. I know the man, a Doctor Bell. It seems to me so strange that he should have gone so far afield, or, indeed, elsewhere at all, being already in such safe and competent hands.' Sir Peter had hit the doctor on a tender spot. If he had had time to consult his dignity, he w^ould have scorned to give any explanation ; but for the moment dignity — a delicate creature and unable to bear the spectacle of wounded amour propre — had fled the field. 2o8 FOR CASH ONLY. ' Your Informant, Sir Peter, may have been right In his facts, but he Is quite wrong In his deductions. Dr. Bell was sent for from London, but only, as I happen to know from his own communica- tions. In his official capacity as consulting physician to an Insurance office.' ' Oh, then, Lyster wanted to Insure his life, did he ?' said Sir Peter eagerly. 'Would you mind telling me in confidence,' here he dropped his voice, ' what was the sum ?' ' I really cannot,' said the doctor ; ' the fact Is, that as I have not yet made my fortune, I am compelled to mind my own business.' The glass was up, the check-string pulled, and the brougham half-a-dozen yards away, before Sir Peter could under- stand that he had been Insulted. He had some of the attributes of the ele- phant, but not all ; he could push through most things, and, indeed, had done it — but GOSSIP. 209 he couldn't pick up the pin. He was al- together wanting in delicacy of touch, and when he trod upon people was quite sur- prised that he hurt them. It was as though, having trodden them flat, he looked at them edgeways, when, of course, there was nothing to see. But in this case he had, as it were, set his foot on a spike. How- ever, the fact that Mr. Lyster was trying to insure his life when almost at death's door was very important information to him. He walked on till he came to Mr. Old- castle's, where he looked in. The lawyer was his man of business, a tall sleek per- sonage with gold eyeglasses and a hesi- tating manner, which was of great use to him, as it gave him time to think before speaking. ' You have heard this news about poor Lyster, of course,' said Sir Peter, as if his motto, instead of in medio, had been in medias res, VOL. I. 14 2IO FOR CASH ONLY. ' Good heavens ! what? You don't mean to say he's gone ?' * No, no ; not so bad as that. But, gad, he seems to have been making prepara- tions. This attempt to insure his life at the eleventh hour — between ourselves, it's rather significant ; think of the premium he would have to pay !' ' I suppose it must have been — dear me, yes, pretty considerable.' ' You suppose ? Come, Oldcastle, you must know.' ' Indeed, Sir Peter, I know nothing about it.' ' I feared so, I feared so. The fact is, he has been employing another man of business. I call that rough on you, Old- castle. I should never think of doing that myself.' ' You are very kind to say so, Sir Peter - — very. But Mr. Lyster is his own master, and does things — well — in his own way.' ' Just so ; he's deuced secretive, as you GOSSIP. 211 say. You've made his will, I con- clude.' ' Why, yes ' — Mr. Oldcastle took off his glasses and rubbed them softly. ' I think I may say that much ; but a will, you see, is rather a confidential thing.' * No doubt. I am speaking to you In confidence.' ' Just so ; you may depend upon me. I never reveal anything that passes between me and a client.' This rejoinder was far from w^elcome to Sir Peter, for It took the wind out of his sails. * But the Insurance, Mr. Oldcastle, don't you think It a sign of something wrong — a deficit ? I don't mean In his accounts, man ' — for Mr. Oldcastle had put his glasses on again, and was staring through them at his visitor in amazement — ' but as being significant of empty pockets. Now, I think, as a partner and, as you say, in confidence, I have a right to Inqulne.' * No doubt, no doubt. I wish I was in 14—2 212 FOR CASH ONLY. a position to oblige you. Perhaps the other lawyer you spoke of ' * You mean there would be a mention of the life insurance in the second will, though there was none in the first ?' * Just so.' This was all Sir Peter wanted ; he had transposed Dr. Bell into a lawyer, as he flattered himself, with complete success. As the doctor had no existence in that capacity, he felt confident that there was no second will, and, therefore, that Mr. Lyster's application to the insurance office had been unsuccessful. As a matter of fact, Mr. Oldcastle had given him no information whatever. He had been able to say that he knew nothing of the premium, but of the amount which Mr. Lyster had endeavoured to insure for he was fully cognisant, and the reason why was plain to him also, though, wrapped in his own< selfish speculations, it had never occurred to Sir Peter. GOSSIP. 213 ' I suppose it Is egotism,' mused the attor- ney when his visitor had departed, ' which makes that man so dull. He is a curious example of what a small degree of intelli- gence Is required to make a large fortune. I am inclined to think that it Is rather the absence of certain attributes than the possession of others which insures that sort of success. Sir Peter would never have made much of a mark in our profession, that I will say for it. I never saw a man lie with less ingenuity or a w^orse grace. The idea of his not being able to put two and two together as regards Lyster's wish to insure his life ! "Is it not significant," he said, " of a deficit ?" and yet the old fool Is Lyster's own partner, and has the deed of agreement In his strong box. Of course if Lyster couldn't get It done, and if, as seems probable, the poor fellow can't last, why then things may be serious. Empty pockets ! Well, It may be so. Lyster is as close as wax, but that he 214 FOR CASH ONLY. speculates is certain. I wonder who has aroused Sir Peter's suspicions, for it is clear he has suspicions. If he is right, all will depend upon Lyster's being what Percy- would call '' a good stayer." I wonder, by- the-bye, whether Sir Peter suspects his nephew as having anything to do wuth that line of business. Bless my soul, how I could open his eyes !' And Mr. Oldcastle smiled complacently and serenely as though he were the God of Secrets, as indeed your family solicitor is. He knows, on the whole, a good deal about us ; and the family doctor knows something too : and yet, in spite of the general opinion to the contrary, and of the famous dictum of the Greek philosopher, I am inclined to think we know more about ourselves than either. What thoughts, what eager hopes, what shame- ful fears, were, for example, agitating the minds of young and old in our present life drama, undreamt of by their fellow- GOSSIP, 215 creatures, and unknown — nay, least known of all — to their nearest and dearest ! Fortified in his resolve by Mr. Old- castle's corroboration of his suspicions, Sir Peter took an early opportunity of giving a piece of his mind to his nephew concern- ing his engagement, with the result of which we are already acquainted. On the morning after his interview with Clare, he was summoned, as he expected, to Sir Peter's sanctum. This young man had had the night to think over his position, and had not wasted his time. He had a genius for plots and stratagems, and tho- roughly despised the mental qualifications of his opponent, with whose weak points he was perfectly familiar. His present role was to be aggrieved, but submissive ; and every feature of his handsome face, as he stood before his uncle, was in accordance with the part he meant to play, and illus- trated it. ' Well, sir, and what did Clare say ?' 2i6 FOR CASH ONLY. * Very little, Sir Peter. She Is not one to talk much, as you know. But I am afraid she feels that she Is being very hardly used.' * But she has given you up. That Is the main point,' was the unsympathetic re- joinder. ' By no means, Sir Peter ; she holds me to my bargain.' ' What ! after you told her that I had altered my views ?' ' I hinted that of course, but had the greatest difficulty In making It clear to her. Sir Peter, she said, Is a man of honour. It Is Impossible that one of his character, a benefactor of his species, and who stands on such a moral elevation, should break his word.' ' I never passed my word,' said Sir Peter turning the colour of beet-root. ' Not actually, but of course it was Implied. To her, you seemed to be bound by It. *' What is his reason ?" she Inquired; a ques- GOSSIP, 217 tion, as you may guess, very difficult to answer. I could not say, "It Is because he doesn't think your father is so well off as he once believed him to be." You did not authorise me, yourself, to go to that length.' * Well, of course not ; but you are sharp enough when It suits your purpose ; you could have made use of some delicate phrase to signify the same thing. If you make a fool of yourself with that girl, sir, you'll live to repent It.' * I told her that next to her — to whom I had pledged myself — my duty was owed to you ; that my future, so far as means were concerned, was In fact In your hands. She suggested, however — and though you de- plore her determination, I am sure you will admire her spirit — that we should have plenty to live upon without you.' ' The devil she did !' exclaimed Sir Peter. ' Then let her live on water and a crust, with love to butter it !' ' Pardon me. Sir Peter ; so far from 2i8 FOR CASH ONLY, entertaining any such views, her reply- proves that she at least is quite unconscious of any change in her father's circumstances. If she were, it is very possible, nay pro- bable, that her pride (of w^hich you admit she has plenty) would at once induce her to set me free. No ; my proposition — subject to your better judgment — is as follows : let no further steps be taken in this matter till Mr. Lyster's death, an event which cannot be far off We shall then know for certain how his affairs stand. If all is well with them, the matter can pro- ceed ; but if otherwise, you can, with some show of justice, make appeal to Clare's independence of spirit. As for me, I have obeyed your wishes ^to the letter, and I venture to think that no further sacrifice of self-respect should be demanded of me.' * Well, well, perhaps your plan is as good as any. It is not as if you were going to be married to-morrow. We shall probably know what we are about in a week or GOSSIP. 219 two. At all events, before the end of the year.' ' In that case it will make a great differ- ence,' observed Percy significantly. ' No doubt ; a very great difference.' ' Let us hope for the best,' said Percy. The hackneyed phrase was uttered in the cold, conventional tone that suited it, yet Sir Peter looked up with a quick flush. * What the devil do you mean, sir ? do you suppose I want the man to die ?' * Of course not, sir. I was alluding to his survival.' Sir Peter cast a suspicious, almost a baleful, glance at his nephew. * I am glad that was your meaning. It would be a great misfortune to us, let me tell you, if through any immediate catas- trophe Lyster's money should be just now withdrawn from the firm, when we are extending our operations in so many ways.' ' No doubt,' returned Percy assentingly. 220 FOR CASH ONLY. Yet, curiously enough, the same Idea was now passing through the young man's mind that lately occurred to Mr. Oldcastle, namely, that Sir Peter did not He well ; with the additional reflection that if he (Percy) had had to simulate regretful apprehension he would have done It better. ' There Is one thing I would suggest, uncle, In connection with this matter, that Mildred's visits to Oak Lodge should not be unnecessarily frequent ; since In case anything should happen to necessitate, that Is to induce, Clare to dissolve our en- gagement, the matter would be all the more diflicult and embarrassing, in propor- tion to the Intimacy between the two families.' * To be sure, that is worth thinking of,' said Sir Peter approvingly. ' And there is no use in her going, for she can worm nothing out of her young friend. You'd better tell her yourself what we think about it.' GOSSIP, 221 Percy's face grew crimson, as It seemed to his companion, and might well seem, with shame. * No, sir ; to that I cannot stoop. I have humiliated myself enough to please you.' ' Tut, tut ! to please me ? not a bit of it ; it is all to benefit yourself. You will be ready enough, aye, and glad of an excuse, to be quit of the girl if she's not worth having. However, If you're squeamish about the matter, I'll speak to Milly my- self. To do her justice, she has no more wish to be allied, however indirectly, with pauperism than I have. And I'll take deuced good care we're not allied with it, so you had best not play me any tricks.' The last observation, delivered as it was with an unmistakable scowl of suspicion, was a most unpleasant one ; and though Percy only replied to it by a smile of gende astonishment, disturbed that young gentleman very much. 222 FOR CASH ONLY. Up to that point everything had gone, quite literally, as a marriage bell ; but here was a sad jangling. It took the gilt off his bright expectations very considerably. CHAPTER XIII. MR. RODEX. IF there is anything in the theory of the Survival of the Fittest, there should surely be something of merit in those who retain the appearance of youth after it has long departed from them ; and in this light Mr. Augustus Roden, of Paragon Cham- bers, Pall Mall, and the Ranunculus Club> may have been considered to be not wholly without his uses. He had at one time en- joyed one of those sinecures under Govern- ment, about which, w^hen they are swept away, prophecies are made concerning the downfall of our native land ; but as no one was the worse for its abolition, and Mr. 224 FOR CASH ONLY, Roden many pennies the better (for he was amply compensated), the outcry in his case soon subsided, leaving him a magnificent private grievance. His features were clas- sical and aristocratic ; his figure, tall and spare, was, from behind, save for a certain shambling in his gait, still youthful ; and scorning spectacles, he carried an eyeglass, with which, though years of practice had failed to enable him to stick in its proper place, he emphasised his observations in a very dignified manner. Having nothing to do, he took the whole domain of art under his protection, and cultivated such an especial knowledge of blue china as was a terror to his acquaintance. He was accus- tomed to say he was not a conceited man, but that he ' knew more about bleit de roi than anyone in the United Kingdom ;' and as to the latter statement, he may, for aught I know, have been correct. For the rest, he was a professional invalid, a calling that enabled him to wear fur trimmings to his MR. ROD EX. 225 coat in winter, and to indulge himself, under medical advice, with his favourite dainties. The one crumpled rose-leaf in his existence was that he was subject to colds in the head which took aw^ay his taste. In the great Lavatory of the Ranun- culus he was discovered, on more than one occasion, eating soap ; a circumstance that led to injurious reports as to his sanity ; but, as he did me the honour to explain to me, it was a practice he always adopted when suffering from his usual complaint : ' If one can taste brown Windsor one can taste anything ; if I find myself able to do so I order a good dinner at the club ; if not, I go home to my bed and water arrow- root.' He had a delicate complexion — quite the 'pompadour pink,' as he used to boast in moments of complacency — and after he had ' dieted ' (such w^as his term for ban- queting) exceptionally well, this became intensified, which caused his enemies to VOL. I. 15 226 FOR CASH ONLY. aver he painted ; but this was a Hbel. It was only his character that was artificial. In some respects it was also flabby enough, but it had this attribute in common with iron — it was subject to attraction ; not in* deed from the magnet, but from all persons of title, wealth, or notoriety. The woes and wants of commonplace people did not move him at all : he bore the misfortunes of his friends with the most philosophic serenity ; but the lightest wish of a lord, a millionaire, or a celebrity, was law to him. And this, we must do him the justice to say, was without any idea of a quid pro quo, save the merest trifle of personal ac- knowledgment. It must be also admitted that when he did do anything for anybody he did it with all his might ; that is to say, he said it (for it rarely came to doing) with all the power of gracious expression of which his vocabulary, and it was a very copious one, was capable. On receiving Mr. Lyster's invitation it was not the fact MR. RODEN. 227 of that gentleman's failing health, or his reference to the probability that the oppor- tunity would not occur again, which induced him to accept it ; he felt he could with equanimity have postponed making his niece's acquaintance till she w^as an orphan, and have even omitted it altogether without much distress of mind ; but he could not forget that the man was, after all, his brother-in-law, and had the reputation of great wealth ; that though he had con- tracted a second alliance he would probably leave Clare well provided for, and that to have an heiress for a niece is advantageous for a gentleman's social status. Moreover, Mr. Lyster's reference to his own popularity with the lords of the soil showed a very just appreciation of his position ; while the reflection that ' my partner. Sir Peter,' was prepared to make things at Stokeville pleasant for him, was very gratifying. On the whole, he decided to accept the invitation ; and as that idea 15—2 228 FOR CASH ONLY, of his being 'sought after at Christmas- time,' was much too wholesome a one to be discouraged, he resolved to run down to Stokeville at once. On the third day after the despatch of his brother-in-law's letter he accordingly arrived at Oak Lodge. During the latter part of his journey he had been greatly inconvenienced by atmospheric effects and smuts on his nose ; but the comfort, and especially the appearance, of the carriage that had been sent to meet him, had soothed him much, while the warmth of his reception had quite restored his good- humour. Like most selfish persons, when once in for a disagreeable duty he was affability itself Though it struck him that he had never seen a man alive looking so like a dead one as his host, he congratulated him on his appearance with much fervour. * You are thin — that I must say — my dear Lyster, and paler, perhaps, than we could wish ; but I cannot think, to look at MR. RODEN. 229 you, that matters can be so serious as you represent ; the rim of your eye — and I re- member my dear friend the late president of the College of Physicians made a great point of that — looks exceedingly healthy.' To Clare he was more than gracious. ' My dear niece, people may talk of the air of Stokevllle being trying, but you are Hebe herself.' ' I think she has pretty well recovered from her recent illness,' observed Mr. Lys- ter ; ' though, you see, her hair, which they had to cut for the fever, is still short.' ' To be sure, and very nice it looks,' continued Mr. Roden, in no way abashed at his forgetfulness of Clare's late indispo- sition ; * as I was about to say, one would never have guessed she had suffered so severely. Poor soul ! how I pitied her ! Kiss your uncle, my darling ; he has been longing to see this day, I do assure you. And this is Georgy, is it ?' bringing Gerald to the window to examine him, as if he had 230 FOR CASH ONLY. been a specimen of bleu de roi, and he was looking for his jffeur de lis, ' You are a fine- grown young fellow, Master George.' ' Gerald/ suggested that young man, with an uncomfortable grin. * To be sure, you're Gerald ; the idea of my forgetting your name ! What a height, and what a build for sixteen.' ' I am just eighteen,' growled Gerald. * Dear me, how time flies ! but how can you be so, when Clara here ' ' Clare,' put in Mr. Lyster gently. ' Of course, Clare — did I not say Clare ? — when Clare here doesn't look eighteen herself.' ' But I mn twenty-one, you know, uncle,' smiled Clare. ' Well, I should think I did know ; the fact of your having come to years of dis- cretion, my dear, is too important, I hope, to have escaped my recollection. And you have lost no time in asserting yourself as your own mistress, I hear, eh ? What a MR. ROD EN. 231 charming blush ! Well, I hope I am to see this vounof orentleman.' ' Percy is coming to dine to-morrow, on purpose to meet you/ said ^Ir. Lyster, with an involuntary sigh. 'Ah, you grudge him his prize, and I don't wonder,' said ]^Ir. Roden. ' Lord Rackstraw, who is in the same position — his daughter is engaged to the Marquis of Blueblazes, as you are doubtless aware — was saying to me, only the other day : *' How one hates these sons-in-law — the smiling young scoundrels who rob us of our dearest and nearest !" Not that my Lord Blueblazes is so very young ; though junior to me at college. And Sir Peter, by-the-bye ' — (one titled person always suggested another to Mr. Roden) — ' how does he carry his age ? Full of years and honours — a phrase used too often, alas ! in a conventional sense, but not in the case of a benefactor of the human race, who has founded a mausoleum.' 232 FOR CASH ONLY. * A museum,' put in Mr. Lyster, for really the difference was important. The mistake, too, if not corrected, might possibly have been made to Sir Peter himself, with whom the subject was sacred. * Just so ; a museum — one of the most interesting institutions which reflection can dwell upon, and which in a few years will doubtless possess the advantage of being opened for the public benefit on a Sunday. I do hope Sir Peter is well.' Mr. Roden's carelessness of all matters that did not directly concern himself, caused him to fall into a good many errors which the most ordinary attention and recollec- tion would have avoided ; but, on the other hand, his unfailing flow of words carried him through everything, while his self- complacency led him to imagine that others thought as little of his inaccuracy as to time, and place, and name, as he did him- self. He was described, by the vulgar as * able to talk the hind lecy of a horse off ;' MR. RODEX. 233 and though that was probably an exaggera- tion, his eloquence was undoubtedly trying to an invalid. Mr. Lyster, therefore, took an early op- portunity of leaving him to the hospitable ministrations of Clare — who endured him with that gentle resignation with which all good women suffer boredom — till dinner- time. Gerald, too, who, as we have said, had been of late on his best behaviour, re- mained on duty, though it must be ad- mitted that his demeanour resembled rather that of a captured deserter than a guard of honour. Nor was he more reconciled to his position by the compliments which ]\Ir. Roden incidentally bestowed on him with reference to his (supposed) business habits, domestic virtues, and the responsibilities that must needs devolve upon him as ' the right hand of his father.' These 7jial a propos eulogies reached their climax in Mr. Roden's discovery of a most striking likeness in the youth to his ' sainted 234 FOR CASH ONLY. mother,' whom he had not only never seen, but had very positively declined to see, and whom for the moment he confused with his own sister. Even this, however, on perceiving his error, the visitor, assisted by a flourish of his pocket-handkerchief, the production of which this hypothetical reminiscence had necessitated, contrived to smooth over, and in place of embarrass- ment sonorously blew his nose. Clare, who thought him decidedly ' cracked,' treated him with the gentleness exhibited by the American Indians to those whom the Good Spirit has afflicted In their minds ; and Mr. Roden, convinced, as usual, that he had made a favourable Impression, was almost as well satisfied with her as with himself The boy he set down as a cub, but that, he reflected (now that the circumstances of his birth had been brought to his recollection), was only what was to be expected ; as to Mr. Lyster, sitting silent and ghostlike at the MR. ROD EN. 235 head of his own dinner-table, he thought him greatly improved in manner. He had lost that habit of self-assertion which he had noticed in him when they had met at the Ranunculus, and seemed to listen with becoming deference to his dissertations on the dinner-plates (w^hich were Derby, it seemed, but not Crown Derby), and his remarks on the prospects of the Spring Exhibition. On one occasion only did INIr. Roden contrive to interest his audience — or rather two-thirds of them, for Gerald, relieved from guard, gave no further attention to him, but sat clutching his wine-glass, and immersed in his own thoughts — when de- scribing one of the most remarkable cir- cumstances that had ever happened to him as a traveller, which took place on his journey down. ' While waiting at your junction — Coal- borough is, I think, its name ; if I am wrong be so good as to correct me — while 236 FOR CASH ONLY. waiting on the platform, I say, a young person, very black and grimy, with a slimy appearance, produced, as it would seem, by some powerful application of oil, came up and stared at me very hard. He appeared to be a superior kind of stoker, and If washed would have been a handsome young fellow enough ; moreover, his ex- pression was far from suggesting imperti- nence. '' Well, my good lad," said I — for no one can accuse me of a want of affa- bility, I hope — " what can I do for you ?" Then, as I had my hand In my pocket for some coppers, he burst out laughing, and said, " No, thank you, uncle. I can buy my own beer to drink your health in." The train came up at that moment, and off he ran — probably to get on the tender — but that he used the word Uncle, I am con- fident.' 'Why, that must have been Herbert,' observed Clare, laughing. * Perhaps, indeed very likely,' said Mr. MR. RODEN. 237 Roden cheerfully. ' But who is Her- bert ?' * Why, my dear Roden, he is your own sister's son/ replied Mr. Lyster. ' He dined with us at the club when we last met in London, don't you remember ?' ' But he wasn't a stoker then, was he ? Such a circumstance could hardly have escaped my recollection.' * No ; nor is he now,' said Mr. Lyster coldly, for he did not like to hear any de- preciation of his favourite; 'he is simply at Coalborough to pursite his studies.' * Dear me !' ejaculated Mr. Roden, putting up his eyeglass, ' he was certainly not in academical costume.' ' He is learning engineering, though in- deed he has very little to learn ; he is a young man of the highest promise.' 'But I thought he had ^10,000 of his own,' objected Mr. Roden. Mr. Lyster grew paler than ever. * Yes,' he said ; ' but he is not one of 238 ^OR CASH ONLY. those young men to whom a competence is fatal. He is full of work and energy, and endowed with such talents that, in my opinion, he will find the road to fortune easy.' ' Gad ! he had oil enough to smooth it,' exclaimed Mr. Roden, with a shudder of recollection. * But I am glad to find there is a scientific genius in the family — that is to say, beside this young gentleman here,' he added, with a sudden recollection of Gerald's presence. ' Eh, what !' exclaimed Gerald, roused from some gloomy thoughts of his own. 'Yes, I'll take a glass of wine with you with pleasure.' CHAPTER XIV. SEEING THE LIONS. MR. RO DEN'S objection to stokers did not extend to the higher branch of civil engineering ; indeed, he had a keen appreciation of the higher branches of everything, and the informa- tion that Herbert Newton was Hkely to make a figure in science made a consider- able impression upon him. As a man of the world, he of course had heard many similar prophecies of future greatness, but they had been mostly concerning young persons who had little else but prophecies to depend upon ; whereas Herbert, with ^10,000 of his 240 FOR CASH ONLY, own, was voluntarily embracing an un- attractive profession, which really looked like fitness. Under such circumstances it might some day be very agreeable to speak of ' my nephew, the engineer ;' and, as there was no chance of the young fellow's be- coming a burthen to him, Mr. Roden determined to cultivate his acquaintance. He was secretly conscious of not having been so very affable when they had met at the railway station, and was willing enough to show himself friendly. When therefore Mr. Lyster proposed his going over the mill next day, he at once suggested that Herbert should act as his cicerone, and a letter was written that very evening to summon that young gentleman to the Lodge. ' It will be more convenient every way,' said Mr. Lyster, ' as Herbert will be only a volunteer supernumerary, whereas Gerald has his work to do.' SEEING THE LIONS. 241 And Mr. Roden, who had forgotten Gerald's existence in his desire to make Herbert's acquaintance, observed mo- destly : ' That was the very thing which oc- curred to my own mind ; the least that an idle man can do is not to interfere with the work of other people.' Then, after a pause, ' You hinted that Sir Peter had been good enough to offer to show me some of the lions of Stokeville.' ' Oh, certainly ; you will see him at the mill ; and if he doesn't introduce you to the museum,' said Mr. Lyster, smiling, ' it will be a very unusual loss of an oppor- tunity to trot out his hobby.' This was not at all the frame of mind in which ]Mr. Roden wished Sir Peter to show him the museum, or anything else : he had come to Stokeville as a visitor of considerable social importance, whose re- putation had preceded him, and this off- hand manner of treating him, as though he VOL. I. 16 242 FOR CASH ONLY. had been an ordinary excursionist, was in- tolerable. When an invitation to dine at the Hall next day, however, couched in courteous phrase, was put into his hand, his ruffled plumes subsided, and all w^as smooth again. His only regret was that his acceptance of it would take him away for a few hours from his excellent brother- in-law (who, of course, could not dine from home), and his charming niece (who could not be persuaded to leave her father), and ' dear George — I mean Gerald.' His reception of Herbert was quite enthusiastic ; the oil which he had so much objected to on the previous day seemed to pervade his own speech and manner. ' Now you are dressed like anybody else, my dear boy, I can't think how I could have ever failed to recognise you ; but I must acknowledge that — well, that scientific costume and, shall I say, local colouring did rather disguise you.' SEEING THE LIONS. 043 ' I looked very queer, no doubt, uncle,' said Herbert, laughing good-naturedly ; * but at Stokeville we are not ashamed of our working-clothes.' * Very right, I am sure ; no one need be ashamed of honest labour. I knew what it was to work hard myself, till an infamous Government deprived me of the oppor- tunity of serving the State ; and I remember I always kept an old coat at the office ;' which, indeed, he had done — to smoke in. On their way to the mill ]\Ir. Roden in- troduced the subject of science, a topic of which he knew little or nothing ; and though that, indeed, was no bar to his con- versing upon it to any extent, he dexter- ously drew out the young man on his favourite pursuits, and listened to him with as little interruption as his own natural turn for eloquence permitted. When one has taken a man of genius for a stoker, and offered him twopence-halfpenny as a p07cr boii'e, no self-sacrifice with a view to 16—2 244 FOR CASH ONLY, making amends can be considered exces- sive. ' To me, a mere looker-on upon men and things, my dear nephew, ' he began, ' It seems incredible that you should have left cotton - spinning, with Its assured and enormous gains, for a calling, honourable no doubt — but, dear me, shall I say so problematical ? — as civil engineering.' ' The term is very appropriate,' returned Herbert, smiling ; ' no doubt It Is a toss-up whether I shall succeed in It or not. But the fact is, material success Is not so at- tractive to me as the indulgence of my own fancies. Even the work at the Junction does not quite satisfy me. I take greater interest In the employment of my leisure- hours ; just now I have a new and promising design In hand for a diving apparatus.' * Bless my soul ! I have had fancies too, but never in that line. I remember once, as a small boy, going down In the bell at SEEING THE LIONS. 245 the Polytechnic — at least I did not go down, because my courage failed me at the last moment, but I was very nearly doing it.' * You would have found it very disagree- able, and, as you say, perhaps a little alarming. But my invention supersedes the diving-bell altogether. I make myself — that is, if I succeed in my experiments — quite independent of extraneous aid. No bells, no pipes, no anything.' ' My dear Herbert, you astonish me. I do hope, for all our sakes, that you at least take the precaution of wearing a water- proof To anyone but a mechanician (who always gives his fellow-creatures credit for ' the rudiments ') this remark would have shown the hopelessness of scientific expla- nation, but Herbert replied to it quite seriously : ' A special dress, and a helmet, are of course essential ; but I flatter myself I 246 FOR CASH ONLY, have found the means of disposing of the carbon dioxide.' * That, indeed, is most satisfactory,' said Mr. Roden, who concluded it to be a salable production, and that the other had found a market for it. ' Ah ! I see you understand the obstacle that has hitherto stood in our way. I had long ago arranged for a supply of concen- trated oxygen, but what to do with it after expiration was the great problem.' ' So I should imagine,' said Mr. Roden, who could not conceive what more could be wanted for a thing that had already expired, ' Well, at last I have succeeded in ab- sorbing the dioxide gas by soda.' ' A capital thing soda,' observed Mr. Roden approvingly ; ' I absorb a good deal of it myself.' ' But, my good sir,' said Newton ear- nestly, ' it's of course not ordinary soda ; a well-known chemical action is taken advan- tage of.' SEEING THE LIONS. 247 ' Quite right — quite right,' interrupted Mr. Roden, who, though feeHng out of his depth, and without any scientific appH- ances to assist him, still floundered on. ' Take advantage of everything and every- body. At least — that is — I mean,' he added precipitately, ' so far as the rules of morality and — dear me — gentlemanly feel- ing permit of it.' Rapt in his subject though he was, even the young inventor now perceived how matters stood, and observed good- naturedly: 'Well, uncle, I am afraid I have bored you with my crude attempts at ex- planation, and after all perhaps have failed to make the matter clear ; but I can only say, as I have brought the thing to the experimental stage, that if you would like to try it yourself, the reservoir above Oak Lodge is the very place, and ' ' My dear Herbert,' put in the other earnestly, ' it is most generous of you to offer me such an opportunity; underground 248 FOR CASH ONLY. we must all go sooner or later, but since the going under water may be postponed indefinitely, I don't think I'll risk it.' The genuineness of this reply, and the naturalness of manner (so far as the speaker was concerned quite unparalleled) with which it was delivered, tickled his com- panion's very heartstrings. But it puzzled him to think why Mr. Roden, being the sort of man it was now obvious he was, should want to go over a cotton-mill. The truth was, Mr. Roden wanted to do nothing of the kind, but, like two out of every three would-be spectators of that industry, was the victim of circumstances. He thought it was the right thing to affect a personal interest in British manufactures, and that his visit would gratify Sir Peter. Herbert took him first to the office and introduced him to that magnate, who sat in commercial state, surrounded by speaking- tubes and in communication with half a dozen telegraphs. The worthy knight SEEING THE LIONS. 249 secretly held his visitor in much the same light as Doctor Johnson would have re- garded a dancing-master, but It was curious to see how a few well-chosen words and honeyed sentences soon won his favour ; he liked his flattery in slabs, and Mr. Roden laid it on with a trowel. The knight was studiously courteous to his partner's guest and relative, but if the task of conciliation had devolved upon him, he would certainly not have acquitted himself with such dexterity as his com- panion. If war had chanced to have been declared between them, what very different things they would have said of one an- other ! But the fact Is, that men of shallow feelings and .no convictions get on together in the path of life (so long as it doesn't come to jostling) far more agree- ably than their betters. * A well-informed and intelligent man,' was Sir Peter's verdict on his visitor as he left the room, to visit those works which in 250 FOR CASH ONLY. his eyes (he said) had always been ' the archetype of England's commercial great- ness.' Mr. Roden's admiration for the establish- ment of Messrs. FIbbert and Lyster was not, however, unmixed with awe ; he had a wholesome dread of cogs and wheels, and was exceedingly afraid of being caught in the machinery. At the very first start, indeed, his prudence was nearly the death of him ; for In placing a safe distance between himself and the ' cotton-opener,' he backed on to the ' scutching machine,' and was within an ace of being disposed of (in small pieces) as 'refuse material.' From that moment, as Herbert after- wards remarked with some humour, the keenest apprehension seemed to possess him lest the termination of his earthly career should be ' to be reeled off into the finest cotton thread, and sold for i,ooo yards of it, when In truth he only made 500.' When his guide observed, ' We are now SEELXG THE LIONS. 251 going into the card-room,' he brightened up a Httle, under the impression, perhaps, that he was at last to see something famihar ; but the room, I need not say, was not such as he expected, and (except that it had ' flats ' in it) by no means reproduced the apart- ment of the same name at the Ranunculus. In one portion of the manufacture, how- ever, Mr. Roden seemed to take particular interest: the * throstle-frame.' It may have been that some poetical association with the songster of the wood attracted him to it, but at all events he tarried there for some minutes watching the bobbins and those who ministered to their needs. On the conclusion of their visit of in- spection they chanced to meet Percy, to whom ]\Ir. Roden was most gracious and effusive. It gave him the most unfeigned pleasure, he said, to meet the future husband of his beloved niece ; and not only congratulated him on that event, but ventured to congratulate himself upon the 252 FOR CASH ONLY. prospect of becoming connected, however indirectly, with the great house of Fibbert. And Percy answered him, with the least curve of his lip, in the same high strain, while Herbert stood by biting his lips, and wishing the ground to open. Nor were his embarrassments at an end when that interview was over, for as they went out together they came upon Gerald, with whom Mr. Roden affably entered into conversation about his duties ; though, as Gerald's time was mostly passed in evading them, he could hardly be expected to be enthusiastic on the topic, and, indeed, showed his indifference to it very clearly. ' To me,' said Mr. Roden, ' I confess everything has been intensely interesting ; and, by-the-bye, what an uncommonly pretty girl was attending to that throstle-frame of yours !' ' It isn't my throstle-frame,' said Gerald, turning very red. ' Nay, I only say '' yours " because SEEING THE LIONS. 253 Herbert told me it was included in your department. The young woman I speak of seems wonderfully dexterous with her fingers, but so indeed were all of them ; what struck me in her case was her sinooilar beauty, and her delicacy. It occurred to me — not of course that it's my business — that in her condition she ought not to be stand- ing about so much.' * I don't know, I am sure,' said Gerald, picking some refuse from the floor with elaborate care, as if it had been a drawing- o room carpet. ' We employ so many hands that we don't know one from the other.' As Mr. Roden and his cicerone returned home, the former again returned to this subject. ' One has heard of the want of sympathy between employers and employed in the manufacturing districts,' he said, ' so different from the charming feudal feel- ing still to be found between landlords and tenants ; but that Gerald should not know 254 FOR CASH ONLY, one *' hand," or rather one face, from another — and especially such a very pretty one — eh, don't it strike you as peculiar ?' and Mr. Roden nudged his nephew with the handle of his umbrella in a very signi- ficant manner. * My dear sir,' said Herbert, ' the con- ditions of life are so different here to what they are In the south. A man doesn't respect his employers less because he doesn't touch his hat to him or call him '' sir." Our people are more independent.' ' Tut, tut ! you are fencing with me. I suppose it is not in nature that a young man should not so much as inquire the name of a pretty girl with whom he is brought into daily contact, however distant. Come, now, I'll bet a shilling you know the name of that girl yourself.' ' Well, as it happens,' said Herbert, with as indifferent a tone as he could assume, ^ I do.' ' Indeed ; yet Master Gerald, in whose SEEING THE LIONS. 255 department she works, has never acquired that Information. There Is an absence of natural Interest about that young man which, If one was disposed to be uncharitable, one would say Is rarely found associated with native simplicity ; the idea of his trying to hoodwink inc', added Mr. Roden with in- dignation, as though Justice herself had been submitted to that indignity. ' I have a deuced good mind to tell his father.' ' Pray don't, sir,' exclaimed Herbert gravely ; ' my uncle Lyster has trouble enough upon his mind already.' ' Ho ! ho ! there is a scandal then about this very young woman and Master Gerald, is there ?' ' I am sorry to say there Is.' ' Well, well ; I will be as discreet as Memnon. But I acknowledge to sharing one passion with the gentler sex — that of curiosity. What Is this interesting young person's name ?' ' Her name Is Rachel Warder.' CHAPTER XV. A DISSATISFIED GUEST. THE astuteness displayed by Mr. Roden in connection with the heroine of the throstle-frame made a great im- pression on Herbert Newton. A certain simplicity as regards social matters is generally found associated with scientific pursuits, and the manner in which the man of the world's suspicions had been excited, and the rapidity with which he had come to his conclusions, had seemed to the young fellow almost miraculous. Though fully aware in his own case of the great results of exclusive application to one or two subjects, he did not understand that scandal A DISSATISFIED GUEST, 257 and intrigue could be themselves objects of study, and that the idler — within certain narrow limits — can be a master craftsman as well as another. As a rule, Mr. Roden was so wrapped up in his own affairs that his thoughts never strayed beyond them ; but when they did so, the faults and follies of his fellow-sinners not seldom revealed themselves to him. Nor was this accomplished by any excep- tional sagacity on his own part, since he always took their existence for granted, and, like a man who is given to prophecy, it necessarily happened that he was occa- sionally correct. As he had frankly con- fessed, he was also curious — a male gossip — and, like an Italian greyhound which has started a rabbit, having hit upon Master Gerald's delinquency, he felt that that sort of sport was his mission, and kept his ears pricked and his eyes open. The afternoon was dedicated to a visit to the Fibbert Museum, to which Sir Peter VOL. I. 17 258 FOR CASH ONLY, himself had volunteered to act as his guide. It was really a handsome building, the erection of which had doubtless cost a vast deal of money, but, like all similar institu- tions, a little of its contents went a great way with the amateur. There were speci- mens of the geological strata in the neigh- bourhood of Stokevllle ; specimens of its flora in wax (looking more beautiful than real life, and a much better colour) ; specimens of Its manufactures in all stages, enough to make your head go round. But the great attraction, as it seemed, to the visitor (as they undoubtedly were to his cicerone) were the various effigies in marble, In plaster of Paris, in terra cotta, and on canvas, of the founder himself. In each of these Mr. Roden recognised something characteristic of the genius and energy of the original, while Sir Peter smiled and purred his ' Do you really think so's ?' and ' So I've heard It said's,' In a manner that would have charmed a cynic, and sent a humorous observer of A DISSATISFIED GUEST. 259 human nature into fits. Unhappily there were no observers of any kind except the custodian, who Hved in a glass box at the entrance, and passed his time, like a squirrel in a cage, In cracking nuts. The issuing of umbrella-tickets, which was his raison d'etre, was a sinecure office. The Inhabitants of Stokeville had all seen the museum, and none of them had ever come twice. The bed on which the founder had been born, the model of the cottage In which he had passed his boyhood, his first letter, and a copy of the certificate of his knighthood, each in its turn aroused Mr. Roden's admiration to its highest pitch ; and when Sir Peter, at parting, observed with a generous warmth, ' I shall look forward to seeing you at dinner to-night, Mr. Roden, with the greatest pleasure,' he meant it. On the other hand, when Mr. Roden, on finding himself well round the first corner, took out his handkerchief, wiped his forehead, and exclaimed in 17 — 2 26o FOR CASH ONLY, accents of intense relief, ' Thank Heaven it's over,' he meant that too. At the Hall, Sir Peter's hospitality, which was of the imperial kind, delighted him : from the turtle soup to the pineapple at dessert, everything was strictly in accord- ance with his views of the fitness of things, while his host's apology for not having the magnates of the county to meet him at so short a notice, was the more graciously accepted since the doctor and solicitor, who supplied the void, gave him the opportunity of dispensing patronage. He had never perhaps been more like himself — that is to say, more thoroughly artificial and affectedly demonstrative — than throughout the banquet ; his defer- ence to Sir Peter, his devotion to Miss Mildred, his geniality to Percy, his affability to Mr. Oldcastle and Dr. Dickson, were perfect in their several ways ; if he had been alone with each member of the com- pany he would doubtless have made a A DISSATISFIED GUEST, 261 great success, but, as It was, the sense of contrast rather marred the effect. The general Impression In short which Mr. Roden produced at the dinner-party, save on the host himself, was that he was a consummate humbug — a phrase which, curiously enough, Is applied to one who /aiVs in his attempt to gammon. After dinner he had the misfortune to lose the good opinion even of Sir Peter. Any host who knew "Sir. Roden's foible for art would have put his statues into the cellar, and turned his pictures with their faces to the wall, rather than have given him the chance of talking about them ; but in an evil moment It was proposed that they should take coffee in the picture-gallery. Perhaps, after what he had suffered In the museum that afternoon, Mr. Roden thought that it was his turn to play the oppressor ; or, perhaps (for there is no limit to human vanity In this direction), he really thought his views upon mediaeval art were worth 262 FOR CASH ONLY. hearing : but, at all events, he discoursed upon it, coffee-cup in hand, till his com- panions were ready to drop. Poor Sir Peter had little guessed what he bargained for — or, rather, what was to be thrown into the bargain — when he in- vested in those Claudes. Praise of his property was not displeasing to him, but criticism was quite another thing; and, like the poet's brook, shallow, but cease- less, this critic ' went on for ever.' His host, as in duty bound, accompanied him from picture to picture, and listened per- force, like the guest in Coleridge's ballad, though even the ' ancient mariner ' was not so unmerciful as to discourse on art. At last, exasperated beyond endurance, the unhappy knight whispered, ' Hang him ! stop him, Percy,' to his nephew, be- hind his hand. Perhaps Mr. Roden, not so wrapped in the old masters as he appeared to be, may have caught a thread of this appeal ; or, A DISSATISFIED GUEST. 263 what is more likely, Percy's half-smothered laugh, which followed it, may have reached his ear : but certain it is, he brought his lecture to an abrupt termination. So dashed were his spirits and so wounded his feelings by that unseemly exhibition of Impatience, that in the drawing-room, crowded though it was with the oldest and most hideous of china, he forbore to dilate upon its attractions. A sudden interest in the affairs and state of health of his brother-in-law caused him as it seemed to give his chief attention to Dr. Dixon and Mr. Oldcastle, whose names, as he took care to inform them — though under the disguise, as it would ap- pear, of Wickson and Newcastle — had long been familiar to him in the great Metro- polis. To Mildred, whom however he seldom addressed, he was still demonstra- tively polite, and assented entirely to all her sentiments and opinions : he had not been prepared, as he frankly confessed to 264 FOR CASH ONLY. her, to find a young lady in Stokevllle sa eminently qualified to shine in London society as herself, and delicately hinted that in his opinion, though delightful in her way, his dearest niece was wanting in espieglerie. * But you must remember, Mr. Roden, that Clare is just now in trouble,' said Mil- dred apologetically, ' and that you do not see her at her brightest.' * She is in trouble on the one hand,' he admitted softly, ' but on the other she has reason to be in excellent spirits : the happiness of her own future, linked as it is about to be with your charming cousin, seems assured.' And here, though he put up his glass, in apparent admiration of a blue dragon on the dtagere behind her, his eyes never left her face. ' Indeed it seems so, Mr. Roden.' * You say '' seems," ' he rejoined appre- hensively, though nothing could have been A DISSATISFIED GUEST. 265 more natural than the tone of her reply ; * is there, then, any doubt upon that sub- ject ?' * Oh dear no ; I only said '' seems " be- cause you did.' And though her voice was unmoved and her fan waved to and fro to the same slow- measure as before, he noticed that her foot was restless as that of a hound at quest. * They have known one another from children, I believe ?' ' I believe so — that Is, of course, I know it,' she added quickly ; ' they have been neighbours all their lives.' ' To be sure ; Mr. Percy FIbbert has always resided with Sir Peter : a young man of charming manners, no doubt, but of whose taste In certain matters one may venture to entertain a doubt ;' and Mr. Roden smiled significantly, and laid his crush-hat — without which he never went abroad at niorht — on the res^Ion of his heart. 265 FOR CASH ONLY. There had been compliments paid within Mildred's range of reading whereat the heroines, their recipients, should by rights have been more frightened than flattered, but which she had taken, as they did, as matters of course ; but Mr. Roden's flat- tering speech alarmed her exceedingly : nor did any reply to it suggest itself to her, save an uncomfortable laugh. Ere its last titter had died away the butler had an- nounced Mr. Roden's carriage, and so ex- treme was her affright and dislike of him, that it is hardly too much to say that Miss Mildred Fibbert would have preferred it to have been that gentleman's hearse. On the other hand, Mr. Roden did not even yet consider that the insult to his amour propre had been sufficiently avenged. The * purse-proud knight and his insolent whipper-snapper of a nephew,' as he privately described them, had wounded his vanity to the quick; and as for the time at least they were out of his reach, he had A DISSATISFIED GUEST, 25; made Mildred their scape-goat and his victim. With his natural curiosity already whetted by his discovery of Gerald's weak- ness, and agog for new revelations of Stokeville life and manners, he had noticed, or fancied he noticed, a meaning glance or tw^o interchanged between Percy and Mildred. Though the tongue cannot be tamed, it can be trained, it was his experi- ence, to deceive the ear ; but the eye (which was, perhaps, his own ' excuse for a glass ') can no man train to keep secrets. More- over, unless his own eyes had deceived him, he had seen this vision In one of the drawing-room looking-glasses : a young woman, standing w^ith her face to the com- pany, and regarding them with a smile of the politest welcome, had put her hand, as If mechanically, behind her, and for one fleeting instant It had (by no means mechanically) been seized and pressed by another hand — that of her cousin, who stood behind her. 268 FOR CASH ONLY. On his return to Oak Lodge, Mr. Roden found his niece dutifully sitting up for him, and before retiring to rest he had quite a confidential little chat with her by the drawing-room fire. He spoke of her father, of her brother, and of Herbert, as though, albeit hitherto separated from him by malignant Destiny, they had now become indissolubly connected with him, and then touched on her own future and on Percy. * I can see for myself that he has charm- ing manners,' he said, 'and from what I gather he is a universal favourite.' * He is generally very popular, very,' returned Clare, with a quick flush ; ' but there are some persons by whom, unhappily, he is misread. One cannot avert prejudice or surmount it.' * Yes, yes ; a prejudice is a difficult thing to overcome, no doubt ; but on the other hand, my dear, so is a penchant.' ' I don't understand you, uncle,' said Clare coldly, who believed that Mr. Roden, A DISSATISFIED GUEST. 269 perhaps at the instance of her father, was about to advance some argument against her lover ; ' my love for Percy is no pen- chant.' ' Of course not ; I was only wondering whether, being, as you say, so popular, he may not have inspired a penchant difficult to get over in somebody else — in some other young lady.' Clare drew herself up, and looked at her companion with an air so haughty that it was almost contemptuous. ' That is really no affair of mine, uncle.' ' Of course not, my dear,' said Mr. Roden, who was occupied in cleaning his eyeglass, an industry to which he always turned in moments of embarrassment. ' I only thought I would just put you on your guard.' ' Thank you, uncle.' 'Don't mention it, my dear; no, if I were you I would not mention it to any- one — especially, too, as I may have been 270 FOR CASH ONLY. mistaken. Only, as I am going away to- morrow, and this is the only opportunity I may have of speaking to you alone, I thought it right to speak. You will think of your dear uncle when he's gone, just now and then, I hope. Good-night, my dear.' He had certainly given her something to think of, if not of him, in connection with him. For what he had said, which of course referred to Mildred, corroborated all her lover had told her. On the other hand, he had been far too wise to say any- thing to the detriment of Percy himself; he felt that having thus sowed the seed of suspicion, that young gentleman would, in the course of nature, presently come in for his share of the crop. Mr. Roden was not naturally malicious ; if his sentiments in respect to Mr. Percy Fibbert that night had been put into words, they would have gone no farther, perhaps, than ' Pll teach him to laugh A DISSATISFIED GUEST. 271 behind my back when I am explaining my views, which are both interesting and in- structive, upon the works of the old masters.' But his vanity was such, that to wound it had the same effect on him as an im- putation on a merchant's credit, or a soldier's courage. CHAPTER XVI. THE TIMEPIECE. IT was curious, and yet but an incon- sistency common enough with all of us, that while Mr. Roden thus showed his sagacity in picking out the small threads in the skein of human life, he was all but blind to the large ones. Perhaps the reason of the popularity of scandal lies in this, that, like a child's game, the nature of the subject develops the exercise of ingenuity even in the humblest of intellects ; since they can grasp the evidence of weakness even in great minds, they flatter themselves that they can fathom them. Like a man who finds THE TIMEPIECE, 27^ a shark's tooth in a cliff, and straightway imagines himself to be a geologist, the dis- covery of a vice in some unexpected quarter convinces them that they are students of human nature. Their investi- gations into it, however, are but skin-deep : below the surface they know nothing of it, and even, perhaps, are ignorant, judging from their own shallow and selfish thoughts, that it has depth at all. Of the real characters of ^Ir. Lyster and of Clare, Mr. Roden knew as little when he left Stokeville as when he came ; nor could he even detect the shadow that hovered over the little household and cast its shivering gloom on both of them. ' I shall come and see you again in the spring, Lyster,' were his last words to his brother-in-law ; ' and, in the meantime, you can always command my services.' INIr. Lyster had spoken earnestly to him respecting Clare, and had besought his counsel and good offices for her when she VOL. I. 18 274 FOR CASH ONLY. should be left without a protector ; and on the whole, although the other's assurances had been somewhat vague, they had been profuse enough. The dying man, for his part, had been very willing to take his protestations for earnest. It seemed to him only natural that, having once made acquaintance with Clare, her uncle should feel a strong per- sonal interest in her, of which, however, Mr. Roden was not capable. He liked the girl very well, perceived that she was a thorough gentlewoman, vastly superior (for all that he had hinted to the contrary) to her friend Mildred, and admired her beauty ; except for her genuineness and veracity, which secretly made him rather uneasy, she had indeed produced a very favourable impression on him. But, like a voter at an election who wishes well to No. 2, but has already promised his vote to No. i, Mr. Roden had no 'personal interest' to dis- pose of; No. I had secured it from his birth. THE TIMEPIECE. 275 However, the result of his visit had been on the whole satisfactory to Mr. Lyster ; if the entertainment of his guest had somewhat taxed his feeble strength, the other's promise of future help had given him hope — and hope was now what he lived on. It was Indeed most strange to notice how hopefully he talked, as though Death, instead of being next door, was going on his rounds upon the other side of the way. Especially when Sir Peter called, he summoned all his remains of vigour, and presented quite a cheerful front to him, which caused that worthy knight (for a reason with which we are at present only In part acquainted) unspeak- able mystification. * The man looks as if he had one leg in the grave,' was his reflection after these Interviews, ' and yet he has certainly great vitality. I look upon it still as quite a toss-up.' What the ' it ' was did not appear, but it 18—2 276 FOR CASH ONLY. could hardly be that he had any expecta- tion, however remote, of his partner s resto- ration to health. * Then, again, Lyster is so cheerful ; a man of his temperament could hardly keep such a bold face if his affairs were in Queer Street. And yet, my informant was to be trusted. If that fellow Dickson could only be got to speak out. Oldcastle, too, I be- lieve, knows more than he pretends to do. But there's nothing like confidence about those fellows.' By which it may be surmised that Sir Peter's views on such matters were some- what original, and were even slightly asso- ciated with the confidence - trick, which presupposes virtue to be all on one side. In accordance with Percy's advice, which, under present circumstances, had Sir Peter's approval more than ever, Mildred came but seldom to Oak Lodge, and no longer in the character of an amateur detective. Indeed, any attempt to extract confidential infor- THE TIMEPIECE. 277 mation from Clare was obviously hopeless. That young lady always received her with civility ; they even embraced as usual, but, as Mildred expressed it, it was 'like kissing a snow-man,' which, as Percy rather impu- dently observed, was not at all the sort of kissing she liked. The two girls never spoke of Percy now, though he was the subject of both their thoughts ; but sometimes he would call at Oak Lodge when Mildred was there. Then, albeit the ' two ' might not have been ' company,' the ' three ' indeed were ' none.' The ordeal to Clare was very severe : to have to sit and talk to the woman who was plotting to steal him from her for herself, was trying enough ; but to see him In the other's presence was Intolerable. Of course he w^as her very own, but she yearned to claim him — to put her hand upon his shoulder and say, ' This man is mine, and will never be yours.' Thanks to Percy's falsehood, as 278 FOR CASH ONLY. we know, Clare did her wrong ; but for all that, it was wormwood to Mildred, though, of course, there was no such claiming, and far less any endearments, to indicate that he had promised himself to Clare. The man appeared most at ease, for he had all that tact and dexterity of manner with which the other sex is so often erro- neously credited ; but in his secret heart he always dreaded an explosion. It was a relief to them all when even Gerald, with his sidelong suspicious looks and uneasy air, chanced to join them. He was more often at home now than he had been for years, appeared really solicitous about ' the p-overnor,' and would volunteer to do little matters of business for him — such as acting as his amanuensis and checking his banker's book. The sick man always accepted these offers of service, and the lad's exquisite penmanship and accuracy of calculation never missed their meed of praise. But THE TIMEPIECE. 279 the light that fires the father's eye with pride at even the smallest achievement of his offspring, was wanting In Mr. Lyster's case. That his son was a failure, and something worse, was a conviction not likely to be shaken at a time like this, when all Illusions were vanishing. To Clare he was less demonstrative than nature prompted him to be ; for emotion weakened him, and above all things he wished to hus- band his strength : but his heart yearned towards her, and next to her, to Herbert. As men draw near their end they cling to truth and genuineness, and love to have those about them In whom they can trust ; and at Mr. Lyster's wish, as the year drew near Its close, his nephew took up his quarters at Oak Lodge. ' It is not a place for a'merry Christmas,* he wrote touchlngly, ' but you will, I know, not grudge me your society. It will not last for long, and It Is a favour I shall never ask again.' 28o FOR CASH ONLY, It was likely enough that the sick man wished to have his favourite near him ; but, as Herbert afte wards conjectured, per- haps he had another reason for desiring it- It was not the first time by many that he had acted for his uncle as a witness, and in that capacity there might once more be need of him. Day by day, and hour by hour, Mr. Lyster grew paler and frailer ; and as in the great water-floods the watch-dog and the fox and other four-footed antagonists will crouch together watching the ground grow less about them, and the pitiless rising of the tide, so, in view of the dread approach of death, Herbert and Percy and Gerald seemed for the time to have for- gotten their mutual animosities. To Percy, bound by duty to put in an appearance in that melancholy house, but forbidden by the nature of the case to solace himself with the caresses of love, the whole thing was hateful, and he could hardly conceal THE TIMEPIECE. 281 his disgust and enntti ; whereas Gerald was merely sad and silent, as became him. Within the last few days he had worn his usual anxious and apprehensive air, but that had now deserted him, and he seemed to breathe more freely. To Percy this was a problem which interested him, and since he had nothing else to do, occupied his attention. Herbert's solicitude was, in reality, divided between the sick man and his daughter, but appeared to be absorbed by the former. Clare thought of her father only. What was very strange and gave a cer- tain weirdness to the general gloom was, that nothing could persuade Mr. Lyster to remain in his bed, which was obviously the proper place for him. He got up at his usual time, or nearly so, and was as- sisted to his study, where he now sat all day ; nor, though so obviously nearing his end, would he have anyone to watch him at night. 283 FOR CASH ONLY. This was at first a great trouble to Clare, and not the less so because Sir Peter, who had heard of it, had assured her that it was but a sick man's fancy which there was no use in thwarting ; her attitude towards the worthy knight (which, however, was hardly to be wondered at) was not altogether conciliatory, and she distrusted his advice as though it had been the gift of an enemy. On the other hand, when Dr. Dickson was appealed to, he had decided that matters should be left as they were. ' This is one of those cases, my dear young lady, where the patient knows better than we do what is best for himself. There are some natures which resent the restraints of a sick-room ; who seem to recognise the fact that taking to their bed is the beginning of the end or even the end itself; and who absolutely appear, I do not say to parry, but to delay, the stroke of fate by their attitude of self-defence.' THE TIMEPIECE, 2S3 Since delay was all that could now be looked for, this argument was conclusive to Clare ; but when Sir Peter heard of it he shook his head, and, perhaps from an- tagonism of character, veered round in his opinion, and plainly told the doctor that it was his duty not to give way to such unbecoming caprices. * The man actually wanted to teach me my own trade,' complained the affronted physician to his friend ]\Ir. Oldcastle ; ' did you ever hear anything so audacious and unreasonable ?' ' Never,' assented the lawyer ; but a dry smile curled about his mouth, for truth to say, it was his private impression that Sir Peter had not spoken wholly without reason. That the worthy knight was very soli- citous about his partner's state of health was certain ; for though the sick man was now denied to all visitors, he sent to Oak Lodge to ask after the invalid twice or even 284 ^^^ CASH ONLY. thrice a day. The time was coming, how- ever, for a cessation of all such messages, and for the beginning of kind Inquiries of another sort. Christmas had come and gone in the little household without its cheer. It is one of the evils of having set times for holidays and rejoicings, that when misfor- tune comes at those dates the contrast between past and present becomes the sharper. * With such compelling cause to grieve, As daily vexes household peace, And chains regret to his decease. How dare we keep our Christmas-eve ?' Instead of mistletoe at Oak Lodge there was rue, and in place of its white berries silent tears. . It would have been a relief to Clare to find the season of merriment had passed, but that, in so doing, it brought parting from her father nearer. To the surprise of all, even of herself, on the last day of the year he was still alive, though THE TIMEPIECE, 2S5 scarcely In flesh and blood — he was a mere shadow. * It is his will that does it,' said the doctor, with that admiration for stamina always felt by members of his craft. ' An- other man with less strength of purpose would have given in a week ago.' And even now it was Mr. Lyster's wish that all things should go on as much as possible as though that Visitor, whose step was on the very threshold, was not ex- pected. It had been the invariable custom at Oak Lodo^e to see the old vear out and the new year in, and he desired it should be observed on this occasion. Of course he himself retired at his usual early hour ; but he laid strict orders on Clare and on the rest that they should come up to him at midnight and wish him — well, certainly not ' Many happy new years,' but, let us say, pleasant dreams. Not that Mr. Lyster dreamt much, even as sick men are wont 286 FOR CASH ONLY, to do ; nor, I fear, even thought much of things apart from this world. The clergy of the Church of England had but a small flock in Stokeville — perhaps it was the smuts that made black sheep of them — at all events the fact was that the great majority of the population were dis- senters ; but Mr. Lyster had seen his particular minister, and apparently satisfied him as to his spiritual condition. Since that incident, and indeed on this very day, he had had an interview with Clare, which had left her with paler cheeks and graver thoughts than ever. It was piteous to see her now at the head of the supper-table on which lay the untasted food, and around which sat the joyless guests. Her lover was next to her, and ever and anon he made some observation to her in a low voice, to which she replied in monosyllables. She never avoided his glances, but met them with strange looks of tenderness and pain. THE TIMEPIECE. 2S7 ' The old fool has been making his last protest to her against me,' was the thought he concealed under that reverent manner, and masked with that gentle deprecating face. And the sagacity which had so often enabled him to ' track suggestion to her inmost cell,' in this case also had not failed him. No one ever knew exactly what had passed between father and daughter in that supreme hour, but it afterwards came to light that Mr. Fibbert's resolution to make the best of what was inevitable had given way, and that almost the last use to which he had put his failing breath was to induce her to break with Percy. Opposite sat Herbert, silent as the grave to which all their thoughts were tending, and beside him Gerald's vacant chair. The lad had retired, overcome with filial emo- tion, it was charitably hoped — though he was the only one who had displayed any appetite for the viands — and was smoking in his own room. 288 FOR CASH ONLY. Presently Herbert observed gravely : * I think, Clare, I heard the town clock strike twelve just now/ ' You are right,' she said, consulting her watch. ' I don't know how I came to miss It, for I seem to do nothing else but listen. Let us go upstairs.' This conversation, and Indeed all that happened subsequently, became of some Importance. The three rose at once from their seats, as bound on an errand wherein It was necessary to be punctual, but which did not admit of haste. At the top of the stairs they found Gerald standing with white face at the sick man's door, w^hlch was open. ' Come quick !' he whispered hoarsely ; * there is a great change !' Opposite the door was a mantelpiece with a clock upon It, that marked' five minutes past the hour. Clare took note of It mechanically, with a vague, pained sense that they were behind their time. Herbert THE TIMEPIECE. 289 and Percy looked at it too, as indeed they •could hardly avoid doing, and interchanged a momentary glance full of significance. The next instant they were in the presence of the dying man. He was lying propped up in bed with a look of intense anxiety and impatience, which melted, as he recog- nised them, into one of supreme content and resignation. Then before Clare could reach his pillow, all expression faded from his eyes, and the face, ceasing, as it seemed, to be flesh and blood, became marble. It was no longer her father that lay before her, but a dead man. An hour afterwards Herbert let Percy out of the house of death. As they stood on the door-step the latter said : ' It is scarcely the time to talk about such things, Newton, but did you happen to notice the time when this sad event occurred ?' ' Yes ; it was five minutes past twelve by my uncle's clock.' VOL. I. 19 290 FOR CASH ONLY, ' I made it five and a half ; but that is a detail. The point is that it was past twelve. You are aware, of course, how important this is ?' * You mean to Clare ?' * Yes, of course, to Clare. I cannot say that I was very anxious about Master Gerald. Good-night.' Herbert looked after him with lowering brow as he disappeared in the darkness. * There was one thought for Clare, na doubt,' was his reflection, * but there were two for himself. Would to Heaven that matters had turned out less fortunately, for in that case she might have escaped him ! Poor Clare ! Poor Clare !' CHAPTER XVII. PROCRASTIXATIOX. THOUGH it Is past one o'clock in the new year, Sir Peter has not yet gone to bed when Percy reaches the Hall ; he is sitting in his study, wide awake and nervous, and for once deriving no conso- lation at all from the contemplation of his museum in miniature. His strained ears catch the rattle of his nephew's latch-key in the door, and he goes out and beckons him into his little room at once. ' Well, well ? you have news, I see,' says he in a hushed and impatient voice. ' Yes ; all is over, Sir Peter. Poor Mr. Lyster is gone !' 19 — 2 292 FOR CASH ONLY, ' Aye, aye ! and when did It happen ?' * A little after midnight.' ' A little after ? How can you talk like that ! Pray be explicit, sir ; perhaps it was a little before ?' ' No, sir ; It was five and a half minutes past twelve.' ' Oh ! then it seems you can be correct enough when you please. I can tell you this will be inquired Into. Do you know, sir, it may be a matter of eighty thousand pounds out of the business ?' ' I should think. If things go on at the present rate,' replied Percy coolly, ' it would be a hundred thousand.' ' Indeed ! you seem to have been going into very nice calculations upon the sub- ject. On the other hand, as regards this affair, I need scarcely remind you that you are not an altogether independent witness.' ' Perhaps not,' answered Percy, smiling, though beneath his smile there was a vol- PROCRA STINA TION. 293 cano of passion. * As it happens, there was another witness.' ' Gerald Lyster, I suppose ? — a fellow I wouldn't believe on his oath — and one more interested in the matter even than yourself.' ' Nay, I hope not, Sir Peter,' returned Percy gravely. The self-command of this young gentleman, naturally headstrong and bitterly contemptuous of his adversary, was marvellous to see. He had the air of a judicious sick-nurse who has to deal with a preposterous patient, and gradually brings him to reason. ' Gerald, however, was in the room, as you suggest, and Herbert Newton also.' ' Oh, that is a different matter. On the other hand, perhaps Newton did not take any particular notice of the time, since he had no reason to do so.' ' You forget, Sir Peter ; he had ten thousand reasons, or rather the interest of them. And as it happens, he did take 294 FOR CASH ONLY. notice — he made the time five minutes past twelve, as he took occasion to impress upon me.' * You all seem to have had a pretty sharp eye for business/ said Sir Peter curtly. Then, after a pause, during which some feeling of decency apparently pushed its way through the ashes of disappointment, * I hope poor Lyster did not suffer much.' * I think not, sir. His face was fixed on the clock when we came in ; and I am sure, from the expression of it, that his having over-lived the year was the last thought in his mind — and of course it was a comfort- ing one.' ' I dare say. It is not, however, so com- forting for other people. Upon my life, it is uncommon hard to lose the profits of a whole year — and such a year !' 'You mean Mr. Lyster's profits T put in Percy. * Well, of course ; but they would have been my profits had he died five minutes PROCRASTINATION. 295 earlier. However, there's one thing — the money remains in the business ; and we shall want every farthing of it, and more, for these new ventures.' ' They are very promising, no doubt, sir; but ' ' But what ?' exclaimed Sir Peter, with irritation. ' Well, I was going to say they were just a trifle risky.' ' Oh, indeed ; that's your opinion, is it ? When I ask for your views upon such matters, it will be time enough for you to express them. You think perhaps, I sup- pose, because you may now have the control of Lyster's shares, as well as your own, you are going to dictate to me ?' * Indeed, Sir Peter, nothing was further from my thoughts.' And to do Percy jus- tice he spoke the truth. He always avoided the least semblance of dictation, but at the same time the course of action of the firm had of late, and especially since Mr. Lyster's 296 FOR CASH ONLY. illness, been shaped by his advice. What- ever .v^as ' risky' but at the same time promised large profits had always his recom- mendation, for he v^as a gambler to the core- It did not displease him, however, to hear Sir Peter ascribing the more speculative- undertakings of the firm to his own proper notion, since if anything went wrong with them the responsibility would lie on his own shoulders. It was also agreeable to him to hear Sir Peter hint that he was about to have control of the dead man's shares in the business, since it implied the other's con- sent to his marriage. His union with Clare might, in fact, be now considered certain, though he was well aware that it would still meet with opposition in one quarter. Indeed, at breakfast the next morning, he would gladly have confined him- self, in Mildred's presence, to speaking of Mr. Lyster's demise, without reference to its inopportuneness as regarded the means he had left behind him ; but Sir Peter PROCRASTINA TION. 297 was much too full of his own disappoint- ment on that point to keep It to himself. * Upon the whole,' he said, ' as I worked it out last night in my bed, for I could hardly sleep a wink, Lyster made about ;^i 5,000 a minute out of us during his life- time in the present year.' Mildred, who knew nothing of her father's business matters, looked up in extreme surprise, as well she might ; her eyes, as Percy felt, though he averted his own from them, were fixed on him. *Why no, uncle,' he replied, in as in- different a tone as he could assume, ' that is hardly correctly stated. Mr. Lyster gained no more by living five minutes into the new year than one.' ' I didn't say he did,' growled Sir Peter ; ' only if it had been one minute I should have had a word to say, as Indeed I may have even now. For my part, I don't like such close shaving.' Percy might very reasonably have urged 298 FOR CASH ONLY, that Mr. Lyster would have Hved longer if he could, and could therefore be scarcely held responsible for the shaving in question ; but he knew his uncle too well to argue with him. Moreover, he would have gladly avoided all allusion to the subject before Mildred. That young lady, however, hearing of what had happened from her maid, had come down to the early break- fast with the express intention of getting all the information she could about it. And no sooner had her father retired, as usual, to his den to read the morning's letters over his cigar, than she turned to Percy for an explanation. ' What on earth is this ?' she said, with an anxiety very unusual with her ; ' what does papa mean by Mr. Lyster's having made ^15,000 a minute out of us in the five minutes he survived after twelve o'clock?' ' Well, as I told him, he was mistaken,' said Percy. ' He made something, of course, but after all it was only a contingent gain.' PROCRASTINATION. 299 ' Don't fence ; I want to know all about it, sir, and I will know. Please to use words that I can understand.' Percy felt he was in for it. He had seen his cousin moved by passion before, but without the resolute determination which it was now plain underlaid it. He had had a very difficult game to play with her all along, but this was the crisis. ' Well, it's only a matter of business, Milly,' he began ; •' I would have told you about it lonof ao^o, but that I know how business bores you. The articles of part- nership in your father's firm are drawn up in this way. I n case of the demise of a partner, his estate becomes responsible for the debts of the firm, and of course shares in its profits for the current year, whether the remainder of it be much or little. If Mr. Lyster had died yesterday, his estate there- fore would have suffered no loss and derived no benefit from any future connection with us ; but as it has happened, since he lived 300 FOR CASH ONLY. over the year, his representatives are our partners for twelve months.' * And that will be a great gain to them,* said Mildred. ' Well, it may be. There is a revival in trade, and things are looking up ; so that, as I have said, it will be a contingent gain.' ' A gain of ^80,000 ; that is what papa said.' * That is what he has estimated it to be ; but then you know what a sanguine man he is. It may be half that, or it may be nothing — or it may even be a loss.' * I understand,' said Mildred drily. * I am not perhaps quite so foolish as you think me. And Mr. Lyster's ''representa- tives," as you call them, who are they ?' ' Nay, that is impossible to tell till we have seen the will.' 'You lie!' Her voice was firm, but her frame quivered with emotion. PROCRASTINATION, 301 'You lie!' she reiterated; 'you know that it is Clare who will have all this money/ ' I know nothing of the kind, Mildred. I say again, that will depend on the terms of the will. Indeed in the eye of the law, so far as I can see at present, Mr. Lyster's representative is Gerald.' He spoke so confidently that for the m.oment her convictions were shaken ; his voice, too, was stern and cold as it had never been before, and she was a little frightened. ' I don't know what you mean by saying " you lie !" ' he continued, perceiving his advantage, and pushing it at once. ' That is not language which I will put up with from any human being, even from a young lady. I am not in the habit of having my word questioned.' ' You have broken it to me,' she put in passionately ; but the obstinacy of manner had faded away, and in her eyes there were tears as well as fire. 302 FOR CASH ONLY, ' I have not, Mildred. You know, as well as I do, that we have both been the victims of circumstance. Would your father permit me to marry you if I asked him now, more than at any other time ? You know he would not. He would be just as set against it as ever.' ' But he is no longer set against your marrying Clare.' ' I don't know that. The affair is at least now postponed indefinitely. We must trust to the chapter of accidents.' ' And in the meantime you will go and see her daily ?' ' I know that I have made a fool of my- self, Mildred. I have already acknow- ledged as much. But as a man of honour I cannot behave as you would have me. It would be different, of course,' he added, dropping his voice, and speaking very tenderly, ' if you and I were free agents.' * If you really loved me, Percy, you would risk anything.' " PROCRASTINATION. 303 ' And so I would. But it is not a ques- tion of risk, but of utter ruin. Sir Peter would never forgive either you or me. You are saying to yourself, my darling^, that where there is a will there is a way. That, of course, is true ; but I am not so selfish as to take it.' She shook her head as though she had her doubts about that last sentiment, and began to walk the room impatiently to and fro. ' You don't know what I suffer, Percy ; every hour that you spend with that girl at Oak Lodge takes a year from my life.' ^ It does not seem to do so,' he an- swered, smiling, and with admiring eyes. * You seem to me to grow younger and more beautiful every day. And since you talk of Clare, do you suppose that I also do not suffer when Frank Farrer comes to call upon you ?' ' Frank Farrer !' It was impossible that 304 ^OR CASH ONLY, scorn could be expressed more bitterly than in the tone in which she pronounced that young gentleman's name. 'You know as well as I do that I care nothing for Frank Farrer. But you and Clare, that is quite different ; for you love her, sir. Yes, you do ' — for he was about to speak — ' you do ! you do /' Percy shrugged his shoulders, v/ith a faint pained smile. ' You are certainly the most unreason- able,' he sighed, ' as you are the most charming of women. You have nothing to propose yourself, and yet you reproach me with inaction.' ' I am not a man,' answered the girl bitterly ; ' but if I were, I think I should be a brave one.' 'You are brave enough as it is, Mildred,* he answered quietly ; ' neither am I, I hope, a coward. I confess, however, I have not — for that Is what your suggestion comes to — the courage of despair.' PROCRASTINA TION. 305 ' That Is because you have no reason for despair,' was the quick reply. ' That is true,' he answered gently ; ' there is no reason for either of us to despair. There is only need for patience ; we are not masters of our Fate, but Fate may do us a good turn yet. A good man of business, in however great difficulties, thinks little of them if he has only time to turn about him.' ' I should have thought that that was a sharp, rather than a good man of business,' observed INIildred curtly. This was probably the wisest speech she had ever made in her life ; or, rather, it was a stroke of genius, for she was un- aware of its wisdom : it had been suggested by no knowledge of the world, but by irri- tation, which the other perfectly well knew. He affected, however, to misunderstand her. ' Well, as to good, I don't pretend to be a model of all the virtues, Milly, like VOL. I. 20 3o6 FOR CASH ONLY, Master Herbert Newton. I confess that I am but human — very human.' * Say rather manhke — very manHke,' an- swered the girl bitterly. ' How unkind you are, Mllly, and how unreasonable !' he said, with a tenderness accompanied by appropriate action. * Yes ; you preach patience, but In an- other hour you will be comforting poor Clare with your arm round her waist.' But though she reproached him thus, she did not draw back from his embrace. ' Under the circumstances, my dear Mildred,' he went on, In a tone In which reproachful gravity mingled with gentle persuasion, * your Imputations are very cruel ; and If you examine your other strictures upon my conduct dispassionately — I mean with common fairness — you will find them equally baseless. That we are not acting as we would wish is very true, but we are doing the best we can for our- selves. Just at present, at all events, it is PR CRASTINA TION. 307 plain I cannot discontinue my visits to Oak Lodge.' This, of course, was not the point in dis- pute ; but it was, as Percy guessed, the thorn that was just now pricking jealous Mildred's breast. *I suppose not,' she sighed. 'No, Percy, I won't be kissed ; it is not right, though it may be very pleasant iox yo2i' The fair student of ' Butterflies ' had still some notions of propriety, and felt that the copyright in a young gentleman's caresses should not be shared. ' Just one to make it up,' said Percy imploringly. ' As if I was a child !' returned she with indignation. ' No, sir, I — oh, Percy, Percy, you are breaking my heart !* As Percy said to himself five minutes afterwards as he started for Oak Lodge, in garments of w^oe, but with a cigar in his mouth, Tf it had not been for old Matthews coming in in the very nick of time to take 20 — 2 3o8 FOR CASH ONLY. away the breakfast-things, there would have been a deuce of a scene.' He felt tolerably convinced, however, that he had staved off any further mani- festation of dissatisfaction on Mildred's part for the present, and had obtained that great business desideratum, * time to turn about in.' END OF VOL. I. IU-1N(; AND SONS, PRINTERS AND ELECTROTYPERS, GUILDFORD. February ^ 1882. CHATTO & WiNDUS'S List of Books. NE IV PINE-AR T WORK: Large 4to, bound in buckram, 21J. Abdication, The ; or, Time Tries All. An Historical Drama. By W. D. Scott-Moncrieff. With Sev«i Etchings by Johm Pettie. R.A., W.Q. Orchardson, R.A., J. Mac Whirter. A.R.A.,CoLixHuNTER. R. Macbeth, and Tom Graham. Crown 8vo, Coloured Frontispiece and Illustrations, cloth gilt, ys. 6d. Advertising, A History of. From the Earliest Times. Illustrated by Anecdotes, Curious Speci- mens, a nd Notices of Successful Advertisers. By Henry Sampson. Allen OGrrant), Works by : The Evolutionist at Large. Crown Svo, cloth extra, 6s. Vignettes from Nature. Crown Svo, cloth extra, 6s. "One\o/ the best specimens of popvlar scientific exposition that we have er-er hMd the good fortune to fall in with." — Leeds Mercury. Crown Svo, cloth extra, with 639 Illustrations, 71. 6d. Architectural Styles, A Handbook of. From t he German of A. Rosexgarten by W. Collett-Sandars. Crown Svo, with Portrait and Facsimile, cloth extra, 7J. 6d. Cussans.— Handbook of Heraldry; with Instructions for Tracing Pedigrees and Deciphering Ancient MSS. &c. By John E. Cussans. Entirely New and Revised Edition. Illustrated with over 400 Plates and Woodcuts. [/« the press. Two Vols., demy 4to, handsomely bound in half-morocco, gilt, profusely Illustrated with Coloured and Plain Plates and Woodcuts, price £^ js. Cyclopaedia of Costume ; or, A Dictionary of Dress— Regal, Ecclesiastical, Civil, and Military— from the Earliest Period in England to the reign of George the Third,' Including Notices of Contemporaneous Fashions on the Continent, and a General History of the Costumes of the Principal Countries of Europe, By J. R. Planchb, Somerset Herald. The Volumes may also be had separately (each Complete in itself) at £3 13X. 6d. each } Vol. I. THE DICTIONARY. Vol. n. A GENERAL HISTORY OF COSTUME IN EUROPE. Also in 25 Parts, at SJ. each. Cases for binding, sj. each. " A comprehensive and highly valuabU bock of reference. . . , We have rarely failed to find in this book an account of an article of dress ^ while in most of the entries curious and instructive details are given. . . . Mr. PlancJift tnormous labour of love, the production of a text which, wJ-^ther in its dictionary form or in that of the * General History,' is within its intended scope immeasurably the best and richest work on Costume in English, , , . This book is not only one of the most readable works of the kind, but intrinsically attractrve and amusing*' — Athen^um. " A most readaile and interesting work — and it can scarcely be consulted in vain, whether the reader is in search for information as to military, court, ecclesiastical, legal, or professional costume. . . . All the chrom-o-lithographs, and most of the woodcut illustrations— the latter amounting to several thousands — are very elaborately executed; and the work forms a livre de luxe which renders it equally suited to the library and the ladies' drawing-room.*^ — Times. Entirely New Edition, crown 8vo, cloth extra, Illustrated, yj. 6 WIND US, PICCADILLY, 9 Crown 8vo, cloth extra, ^s. 6d. Familiar Allusions : A Handbook of Miscellaneous Information ; including the Names of Celebrated Statues, Paintings, Palaces, Country Seats, Ruins, Churches, Ships, Streets, Clubs, Natural Ciu-iosities, and the like. By William A. Wheeler, Author of " Noted Names of Fiction ,; " and Charles G. Wheeler. [/n the press. Crown 8vo, cloth extra, with Illustrations, 45. 6d. Faraday's Chemical History of a Candle. Lectures delivered to a Juvenile Audience. A New Edition. Edited by W. Crookes, F.C.S. With numerous Illustrations. Crown 8vo, cloth extra, with Illustrations, 4J. 6d. Faraday's Various Forces of Nature. New Edition. Edited byW. Crookes, F.C.S. Numerous Illustrations. Crown 8vo, cloth extra, with Illustrations, 7J. 6d, Finger-Ring Lore: Historical, Legendary, and Anecdotal. By Wm. Jones, F.S.A. With Hundreds of Illustrations of Curious Rings of all Ages and Countries. **One of those gossiping books which are as full of amusement as 0/ ittstruc- iicn." — Athhn^um. Two Vols,, crown Svo, cloth extra, 2,1s. Fitzgerald.— Recreations of a Literary Man; or, Does Writing Pay ? With Recollections of some Literary Men, and a View of a Literary Man's Working Life. By Percy Fitz- gerald, yn preparation. Gardening Books: A "Z ear's Work in Garden and Greenhouse : Practical Advice to Amateur Gardeners as to the Management of the Flower, Fruit, and Frame Garden. By George Glennv. Post Svo, cloth limp, -zs. 6d. Our Kitchen Garden : The Plants we Grow, and How we Cook Them. Ey Tom Jerfold, Author of "The Garden that Paid the Rent," &c. Post Svo, cloth limp, 2J. 6^. Household Horticulture : A Gossip about Flowers. By ToM and Jane Jerrold. Illustrated. Post Svo, cloth limp, 2^. 6d. My Garden Wild, and What I Grew there. By Francis George Heath. Crown Svo, cloth extra, 5^. One Shilling Monthly. Gentleman's Magazine (The) for 1882. The January Number of this Periodical contained the First Chapters of a New Serial Story, entitled " Dust," by Julian Hawthorne, Author of "Garth," &c. "Science Notes," by W. Mattieu Williams, F.R.A.S., will also be continued monthly. *»* Now ready, the Volume for JULT to December, 1881, cleth extra, price 8j, Sd.; and Cases for binding, price zs. each. 10 BOOKS PUBLISHED BY THE R US KIN GR/MM.—Squaxe 8vo, cl. ex., 6s. 6d, ; gilt edges, js. 6d, German Popular Stories. Collected by the Brothers Grimm, and Translated by Edgar Taylor. Edited vnth an Introduction by John Ruskin. With 22 Illustrations after the inimitable designs of GfEORGB Cruikshank. Both Series Complete. " The illustrations of this volume , . . are of quite sterling and admirable art, of a class precisely parallel in elevation to the character of the tales which they illustrate ; and the original etchings, as I have before said in the Appendix to my ' Elements of Drawing,' were unrivalled in masterfulness of touch since Rent' brandt (in some qualities of delineation, unrivalled even by him). . . . To make somewhat enlarged copies of them., looking at them, through a magnifying glass, and never putting two lines where Cruikshank has put only one, would be an exer- cise in decision and severe drawing which would leave afterwards UttU to be learnt in schools."^Extract from Introdtiction by John Ruskin. Square i6mo (Tauchnitz size), Golden Library, The : Ballad History of England. By W. C. Bennett. Bayard Taylor's Diversions of the Echo Club. Byron's Don Juan. Emerson's Letters and Social Aims. Godwin's (WilUam) Lives of the Necromancers. Holmes's Autocrat of the Breakfast Table. With an Introduc- tion by G. A. Sala. Holmes's Professor at the Breakfast Table. Hood's Whims and Oddities. Complete. With all the original Il- lustrations. Irving's (Washington) Tales of a Traveller. Irving's (Washington) Tales of the Alhambra. Jesse's (Edward) Scenes and Occupations of Country Life. Lamb's Essays of Elia. Both Series Complete in One Vol. Leigh Hunt's Essays : A Tale for a Chimney Corner, and other Pieces. With Portrait, and Introduc- tion by Edmund Ollier. cloth extra, 2j. per volunae. Mallory's (Sir Thomas) Mort d' Arthur : The Stories of King Arthur and of the Knights of the Round Table. Edited by B, Montgomerib Ranking. Pascal's Provincial Letters. A New Translation, with Historical In- troduction and Notes, by T. M'Crib, D.D. Pope's Poetical Works. Com. plete. Rochefoucauld's Maxims and Moral Reflections. With Notes, and an Introductory Essay by Sainte- Beuve. St Pierre's Paul and Virginia, and The Indian Cottage. Edited, with Life, by the Rev. E. Clarkb. Shelley's Early Poems, and Queen Mab, with Essay by Lbigh Hunt. Shelley's Later Poems : Laon and Cythna, &c. SheUey's Posthumous Poems, the Shelley Papers, &c. Shelley's Prose Works, includ- ing A Refutation of Deism, Zastrozzi, St. Irvyne, &c. White's Natural History of Sel< borne. Edited, with Additions, by Thomas Brown, F.L.S. Crown 8vo, cloth gilt and gilt edges, js. 6d. Golden Treasury of Thought, The : An Encyclopaedia of Quotations from Writers of all Times and Countries. Selected and Edited by Theodore Taylor. CHATTO &* WIND US, PICCADILLY. ii Post 8vo, doth limp, 2J. Sd. Qlenny's A Year's Work in Garden and Greenhouse : Practical Advice to Amateur Gardeners as to the Manage- moit of the Flower, Fruit, and Frame Garden. By George Glenny. " A great deal of valuable information, conveyed in very simple language. Tht mmateur need not wish for a ietter guide. "—Lkevs Mercury. New and Cheaper Edition, demy 8vo, cloth extra, with Illustrations, ys.Sd. Greeks and Romans, The Life of the, Described from Antique Monuments. By Ernst Guhl and W. KONER. Translated from the Third German Ekiition, and Edited by Dr. F. HUEFFER. With 545 Illustrations. *' Must yind a place, not only upon the scholars shelves, hut in ez'ery well- chosen library of art." — Daily News. Crown 8vo, cloth extra, gilt, with Illustrations, 41. 6d. Guyot's Earth and Man; or, Physical Geography in its Relation to the History of Mankino. With Additioms by Professors Agassiz, Pierce, and Gray ; 12 Maps and Engravings on Steel, some Coloured, and copious Index. Crown 8vo, is. Hair (The): Its Treatment in Health, Weak- ness, and Disease. Translated from the German of Dr. J. Pincus, of Berlin. [/« the press. Hake (Dr. Thomas Gordon), Poems by : Maiden Ecstasy. Small 410, cloth extra, Sj. New Symbols. Crown 8vo, cloth extra, 6^. Legends of the Morrow. Crown 8vo, cloth extra, 6s. Two Vols., crown 8vo, cloth extra, 12s. Half-Hours with Foreign Novelists. With Notices of their Lives and Writings. By Helen and Alice ZiMMERN. A New Edition. Medium 8vo, cloth extra, gilt, with Illustrations, js. 6d. Hall's(Mrs. S. OSketches of Irish Character. With numerous Illustrations on Steel and Wood by Maclise, Gil- bert, Harvey, and G. Cruikshank. " The Irish Sketches op this lady resembl* Miss Mit/ord*s beautiful English sketches in * Our Village,' but they are far m^fre vigorous and picturesque ana. 3r^A^"— Blackwood's Magazine. Crown 8vo, cloth extra, 5J. Heath (F. G.)— My Garden Wild, And What I Grew there. By Francis George Heath, Author of "The Fern World," &c. 13 BOOKS PUBLIS2iED BY Haweis (Mrs.), Works by : The Art of Dress. By Mrs. H. R. Haweis. Illustrated by the Author. Small 8vo, illustrated cover, is. \ cloth limp, if. (id. " A w«ll-cofisidered attempt to apply canons of good taste to the costumet of ladies oj our time Mrs. Haweis writes frankly and to th« pointy she does not mince matters^ hut boldly remonstrates with her own sex on the follies they indulge in. .... We may recommend the book to the ladies whom, it concerns" — Athhn/eum. The Art of Beauty, By Mrs. H. R. Haweis. Square 8vo, cloth extra, gilt, gilt edges, with Coloured Frontispiece and nearly loo Illustrations, \os. 6d. The Art of Decoration. By Mrs. H. R. Haweis. Square 8vo, handsomely bound and profusely Illustrated, lo^ . 6d. *^^* See also Chaucer, p. 5 of this Catalogue. SPECIMENS OF MODERN POETS.— Croy/n 8vo, cloth extra, 6s. Heptalogia (The) ; or, The Seven against Sense. A Cap with Seven Bells. " The merits of the book cannot he fairly estimated by means of a few extracts ; it should be read at length to be appreciated properly, and, in our opinion, its merits entitle it to be very widely read indeed.^'— Sr. i \iab.s,'s Gazette. Cr. 8vo, bound in parchment, 8j. ; Large-Paper copies (only 50 printed), 15^. Herbert.— The Poems of Lord Herbert of Cherbury. Edited, virith an Introduction, by J . Churton Collins. Complete in Four Vols., demy Svo, cloth extra, 12s. each. History of Our Own Times, from the Accession of Queen Victoria to the General Election of 1880. By Justin McCarthy, M.P. "Criticism is disarmed before a composition which provokes little but approval. This is a really good book on a really interesting subject, and words piled on words could say no more for //."—Saturday Review. New Work by the A uthor of'A HIS TOR YofOURO WN TIMES." Four Vols, demy Svo, cloth extra, X2S. each. History of the Four Georges. By Justin McCarthy, M.P. ' ^In preparation. Crown Svo, cloth limp, with Illustrations, 2s. 6d. Holmes's The Science of Voice Production and Voice Preservation : A Popular Manual for the Use of Speakers and Singers. By Gordon Holmes, L.R.C.P.E. Crown Svo, cloth extra, gilt, 7s. 6d, Hood's (Thomas) Choice Works, In Prose and Verse. Including the Cream of the Comic Annuals. With Life of the Author, Portrait, and Two Hundred Illustrations. CHATTO ^ WIND US, PICCADILLY. 13 Square crown 8vo, cloth extra, gilt edges, 6j. Hood's (Tom) Prom Nowhere to the North Pole : A Noah's Arkaeological Narrative. With 25 Illustrations by W. Brunton and E. C. Barnes. " Tfu amusing letterpress is profusely interspersed with the jingling rhymit which children love and learn so easily. Messrs. Brunton and Barnes do fu I justice to the writer's meaning, and a pleasanter result of the hanttanious ct» operation of author and artist could not be desired." —Times. Crown 8vo, cloth extra, gilt, 7J. 6d. Hook's (Theodore) Choice Humorous Works, including his Ludicrous Adventures, Bons-mots, Puns, and Hoaxes; With a new Life of the Author, Portraits, Facsimiles, and Illustrations, Crown 8vo, cloth extra, yj. Home's Orion : An Epic Poem in Three Books. By Richard Hekgist Horkb. With a brief Commentary by the Author. With Photographic Portrait from a MedaUion by Summers. Tenth Editioa. Crown Svo, cloth exrra, 7J. dd. Howell's Conflicts of Capital and Labour Historically and Economically considered. Being a History and Review of the Trade Unions of Great Britain, showing their Origin, Progress, Constitution, and Objects, in their Political, Sodal, Eco- nomical, and Industrial Aspects. By George Howell. " This book is an attempt, and on the whale a successful attempt, to place the work of trade unions in the past, and their objects in the futitre, fairly before the puilicfrsfH the working m^an' s point ofview."—^KL.\. Mall Gazbttb. Demv Svo, cloth extra, 12J. (xi. Hueflfer's The Troubadours: A History of Provencal Life and Literature in the Middle Ages. Ey Francis Hueffer. , Crown Svo, cloth extra, 6j. Janvier.— Practical Ker amies for Students. By Catherine A. Janvier. " iVill be fouK'i a useful hanibook by those who wish to try the ma.nufcutur» ar decoration of pottery, and m.ay be studied by all who desire to know something 9f the gr^."— Mornin g Post. A New Edition, Revised and partly Re-written, with several Ne-Jiy Chapters and Illustrations, crown Svo, cloth extra, js. 6d. Jennings' The Rosicrucians : Their Rites and Mysteries. With Chapters on the Ancient Fire and Serpent Worshippers. By Hargrave Jennings. With Five lull- page Plates and upwards of ;::too Illustrations. Two Vols. Svo, with 52 Illustrations and Maps, cloth extra, gilt, 141. Josephus, The Complete Works of. Translated by Whiston. Containing both " The Antiquities of the Jews " and " The Wars of the Jews." 14 BOOKS PUBLISHED BY Jerrold (Tom), Works by: Household Horticulture : A Gossip about Flowers. By ToM and Jane Jerrold. Illustrated. Post 8vo, cloth limp, 2J.6/his lovers are yet warm, with re joicing" — A. C. Swinburnk. Crown 8vo, cloth extra, 6s. Lares and Penates; Or, The Background of Life. By Florence Caddy. " The whale hook is well worth readmg, for it is full of poetical suggestions. ; • . . We ho^e nobody will be deterred from taking up a book which teaches a good deal about sweetening poor lives as well as giving grace to wealthy ones."— Graphic. Crown 8vo, cloth, full gilt, 6j. Leigh's A Town Garland. By Henry S. Leigh, Author of "Carols of Cockayne." "If Mr. Leigh's verse survive to a future generation — and there is no reason why that hontrur should net be accorded productions so delicate, so finished, and so full of humour — their author will probably be remembered as the Poet of the Strand." — Athen^um. Second Edition.— Crown 8vo, cloth extra, with Illustrations, 6j. Leisure-Time Studies, chiefly Biological. By Andrew Wilson, F.R.S.E., Lecturer on Zoology and Compara- tive Anatomy in the Edinburgh Medical School. " It is well when we can take up the work of a really qualified investigator^ who in the intervals of his more serious prof essional labours sets himself to impart knowledge in such a simple and elementary form as may attract and instruct, with tio danger of misleading the tyro in statural science. Such a work is this little volume, made up of essays and addresses written and delivered by Dr. Andrew Wilson, lecturer and examiner in science at Edinburgh and Glasgow, at leisure intervals in a busy professional life. . . . Dr. Wilson's pages teem wit h matter stimulating to a healthy love of science and a reverence for the truth s 9f nature.*' — Saturday Review. Crown Svo, cloth extra, with Illustrations, 7J. dd. Life in London; or, The History of Jerry Hawthorn and Corinthian Tom. With the whole of Cruikshank's Illustrations, in Colours, after the Originals Crown Svo, cloth extra, 6j. Lights on the Way : Some Tales within a Tale. By the late J. H. Alexander, B.A« Edited, with an Explanatory Note, by H. A. Page, Author of •'Thoreau: A Study." Crown Svo, cloth extra, with Illustrations, 7J. 6d. Longfellow's Complete Prose Works. Including "Outre Mer," "Hyperion," " Kavanagh," "The Poets and Poetry of Europe," and "Driftwood," With Portrait and Illus- trations by Valentine Bromley. 1 6 BOOKS PUBLISHED BY Crown 8vo, eloth extra, gilt, with Illustrations, is. 6d, Longfellow's Poetical Works. Carefully Reprinted from the Original Editions, With numerous fine Illustrations on Steel and Wood. j Crown 8vo, cloth extra, 5s. Lunatic Asylum, My Experiences in a. By a Sane Patient. " Th* story is clever and interesting, sad beyond measure though the subfeci it. There is no personal bitterness, and no violence or anger. Whatever may have been the evidence for our author's madness when he was consigned to an asylum^, nothing can be clearer than his sanity when he wrote this book ; it is bright, calm, and to the point." — Spectator. Demy 8vo, with Fourteen full-page Plates, cloth boards, iBj. Lusiad (The) of Camoens. Translated into English Spenserian verse by Robert Ffrench Duff, Knight Commander of the Portuguese Royal Order of Christ. Crown 8vo, cloth extra, 'js. 6d. Maclise Gallery (The) of Illustrious Literary Characters : 84 fine Portraits, with Descriptive Text, Anecdotal and Biographical. By William Bates, B. A, \In freparatien. Handsomely printed in facsimile, price 5J. Magna Charta. An exact Facsimile of the Original Document in the British Museum, printed on fine plate paper, nearly 3 feet long by 2 feet wide, with the Arms and Seals emblazoned in Gold and Colours. Mallock's (W. H.) Works : Is Life Worth Living P By William Hurrell Mallock. New Edition, crown 8vo, cloth extra, 6^. " This deeply interesting volume It is the most powerful vin- dication of religion, both natural and revealed, that has appeared since Bishop Butler wrote, and is much -more useful than either the Analogy or the Ser' m-ons of that great divine, as a refutation of the peculiar form, assumed by the infidelity of the present day Deeply philosophical as the booh is, there is not a heavy page in it. The writer (is 'possessed,' so to speak, with his great subject, has sounded its deptJis, surveyed it in all its extent^ and brought to bear on it all the resources of a vivid, rich, and impassioned style, as well as an adequate acquaintance with the science, the philosophy, and the literature of the *. ^^ ^ Small 4 to, cloth extra, Illustrated, 251. Sword, The Book of the : Bein^ a History of the Sword, and its Use, in all Countries from the Earliest Times. By Captain Richard Burton. With over 400 lUustrations. [/« preparation. Medium Svo, cloth extra, with Illustrations, js. bd. Syntax's (Dr.) Three Tours, in Search of the Picturesque, in Search of Consolation, and in Search of a Wife. With the whole of Rowlandson's droll page Illustra- tions, in Colotirs, and Life of the Author by J. C. Hotten. Crown Svo, iw. Erechtheus : A Tragedy. Crown Svo, 6j. Note of an English Republican on the Muscovite Crusade. Svo, i*. A Note on Charlotte Bronte. Crown Svo, 6s. A study of Shakespeare. 30 BOOKS PUBLISHED BY Four Vols, small 8vo, cloth boards, 301. Taine's History of English Literature. Translated by Henry Van Laun. •»♦ Also a Popular Edition, in Two Vols, crown 8vo, cloth extra, 15J. Crown 8vo, cloth gilt, profusely Illustrated, dr. Tales of Old Thule. Collected and Illustrated by J. Moyr Smith. One Vol. crown 8vo, cloth extra, 75. 6rf. Taylor's (Tom) Historical Dramas: " Clancarty," "Jeanne Dare, Twixt Axe and Crown," "The Fool's Revenge," " Arkwright's Wife," " Anne Boleyn," " Plot and Passioa." *»* Tlie Plays may also be had separately, at la. each. Crown 8vo, cloth extra, with Coloured Frontispiece and numerous Illustrations, ^s. 6d. Thackerayana : Notes and Anecdotes. Illustrated by a profusion of Sketches by William Makepeace Thackeray, depicting Humorous Incidents in his School-life, and Favourite Characters in the books of his every- day reading. With Hundreds of Wood Engravings, facamiled from Mr. Thackeray's Original Drawings. Crown 8vo, cloth extra, gilt edges, with Illustrations, 7s. 6d. Thomson's Seasons and Castle of Indolence. With a Biographical and Critical Introduction by Allan Cunning- ham, and over 50 fine Illustrations on Steel and Wood. Crown 8vo, cloth extra, with numerous Illustrations, 7s. 6d. Thombury's (Walter) Haunted London. A New Edition, Edited by Edward Walford, M.A., with numerous Illustrations by F. W. Fairholt, F.S.A. ' Crown 8vo, cloth extra, with Illustrations, 7s. 6d. Timbs' Clubs and Club Life in London. With Anecdotes of its famous CoflFee-houses, Hostelries, and Taverns, By John Times, F.S.A. With numerous Illustrations. Crown 8vo, cloth extra, with Illustrations, 7s. 6d. Timbs' English Eccentrics and Eccentrici- ties: Stories of Wealth and Fashion, Delusions, Impostures, and Fanatic Missions, Strange Sights and Sporting Scenes, Eccentric Artists, Theatrical Folks, Men of Letters, &c. By JaHN Times, F.S.A. With nearly 50 Illustrations. Demy 8vo, cloth extra, 14J. Torrens' The Marquess Wellesley, Architect of Empire. An Historic Portrait. Forming Vol. I. of Pro- CoNSUL and Tribune: Wellesley and O'Connell: Historic Portraits. By W. M. Torrens, M.P. In Two Vols. CHATTO ^ WIND US, PICCADILLY. 31 Demy 8vo, cloth extra, with Illustrations, pj. Tunis : the Land and the People. B y Ernst von Hesse-Wartegg. With 22 fine Illustrati ons. Crown 8vo, cloth extra, with Coloured Illustrations, 75. 6d. Turner's (J. M. W.) Life and Correspondence: Founded upon Letters and Papers furnished by his Friends and fellow- Academicians. By Walter Thornbury. A New Edition, con- siderably Enlarged. With numerous Illustrations in Colours, facsimiled from Turner's original Drawings. Two Vols., crown 8vo, cloth extra, with Map and Ground-Plans, 14J. Walcott's Church Work and Life in English Minsters ; and the English Student's Monasticon. By the Rev. Mackenzie E. C. Walcott, B.D. Large crown 8vo, cloth antique, with Illustrations, 7J. 6rf. Walton and Cotton's Complete Angler: or. The Contemplative Man's Recreation : being a Discourse of^Rivers, Fishponds, Fish and Fishing, written by Izaak Walton ; and In- structions how to Angle for a Trout or Grayling in a clear Stream, by Charles Cotton, With Original Memoirs and Notes by Sir Harris Nicolas, and 61 Copperplate Illustrations. The Twenty-second Annual Edition, for 1882, cloth, full gilt, 50J. Walford's County Families of the United Kingdom. By Edward Walfcrd, M. A. Containing Notices of the Descent, Birth, Marriage, Education, &c., of more than 12,000 distinguished Heads of Famihes, their Heirs Apparent or Presumptive, the Offices they hold or have held, their Town and Country Ad- dresses. Clubs, &c. \Just ready Crown 8vo, cloth extra, 35. 6d. per volume. Wanderer's Library, The : Merrie England in the Olden 1 Low-Life Deeps. An Account Time. By George Daniel. With ' of the Strange Fish to be found there. Illustrations by Robt. Crltkshakk. By James Greenwood. The Old ShovTmen and the Old Seven Generations of Execu- London Fairs. By Thomas Frost. tioners : Memoirs of the Sanson The Wilds of London. By Family (1688 to 1847). Edited by James Greenwood. Henry Sanson. TavemAnecdotes and Sayings ; The World Behind the Scenes. Including the Origin of Signs, and • ^y PeRCy Fitzgerald. Reminiscences connected with | London Characters . ByHENRY Taverns, Coffee Houses, Clubs, &c. Mayhew. Illustrated. By Charles Hindley. With Iiiusts. The Genial Showman: Life Circus Life and Circus Celebri- and Adventures of Artemus' Ward, ties. By Thomas Frost. By E. P. Kingston. Frontispiece. The Lives of the Conjurers. ; Wanderings in Patagonia ; or, By Thomas Frost. ! Life among the Ostrich Hunters. By The Life and Adventures of a ! Julius Beerbohm. Illustrated. Cheap Jack. By One of the Frater- , Summer Cruising in the South nity. Edited by Charles Hindlky. i Seas. By Charles Warren Stod- The Story of the London Parks. dard. Illustrated by Wallis Mac- By Jacob Larwood. With Illusts. ' y.k^. 32 BOOKS PUBLISHED BY CHATTO dr* WINDVS, Carefully printed on paper to imitate the Original, 22 in. by 14 in., us. Warrant to Execute Charles I, An exact Facsimile of this important Document, with the Fifty-nine Signatures of the Regicides, and corresponding Seals. Beautifully printed on paper to imitate the Original MS., price 2J. Warrant to Execute Mary Queen of Scots, An exact Facsimile, including the Signature of Queen Elizabeth, and a Facsimile of the Great Seal. Crown 8vo, cloth limp, with numerous Illustrations, 45. 6rf. Westropp's Handbook of Pottery and Porce- lain ; or. History of those Arts from the Earliest Period. By Hodder M. Westropp. With numerous Illustrations, and a List of Marks. Post 8vo, cloth limp, 2s. 6d. What shall mv Son be P Hints for Parents on the Choice of a Profession or Trade for their Sons. By Francis Davenant, M,A. Seventh Edition. Square 8vo, is. Whistler v. Ruskin : Art and Art Critics. By J. A. Macneill Whistler. A VERY HANDSOME VOLUME.- "L^ixge 410, cloth extra, 31J. 6d, White Mountains (The Heart of the) : Their Legend and Scenery. By Samuel Adams Drake. With nearly 100 Illustrations by W. Hamilton Gibson, Author of " Pastoral Days." Crown Svo, cloth limp, with Illustrations, 2J. 6d. Williams' A Simple Treatise on Heat. By W. Mattieu Williams, F.R.A.S., F.C.S. Small Svo, cloth extra, Illustrated, 6s. Wooing (The) of the Water-Witch : A Northern Oddity. By EvAN Daldorne. lUust.byJ. Moyr Smith. Crown Svo, half-bound, 12s. 6d. Words, Facts, and Phrases : A Dictionary of Curious, Quaint, and Out-of-the-Way Matters. By Eliezer Edwards. Crown Svo, cloth extra, with Illustrations, js. 6d. Wright's Caricature History of the Georges. (The House of Hanover.) With 400 Pictures, Caricatures, Squibs, Broa dsides, Window Pictures, &c . By Thoma s Wright, M.A., F.S.A. Large post Svo, cloth extra, gilt, with Illustrations, 7s. 6d. Wright's History of Caricature and of the Grotesque in Art, Literature, Sculpture, and Painting. By Thomas Wright, F.S.A. Profusely Illustrated by F. W. Fairholt, F.S.A, J. OGOBN AND CO., PRINTBRS, I72, ST. JOHN STREET, B.C. r. V'T *^., s»>« *i.^*. imtmmm0ifi UN/VEOS/TV ffi/K?^^ mMm 222216255