When Mr. Grant got to the door of the building, he found Sir Francis
Bendibow awaiting him in a small but stylish turn-out with two horses.
He took his seat beside the baronet on the box, and the footman sat
behind, with his arms folded. In this fashion they drove westward.
Sir Francis knew how to make himself an entertaining companion, and he
availed himself of his knowledge on this occasion. He talked volubly and
genially, giving his companion the gossip of the society of that day, a
society which somehow seems to have been more amusing and eventful, and
to have possessed more character and variety than is the case in our
times. The footman with folded arms had often listened to his master’s
conversation sallies, but had seldom heard him so agreeable as on the
present occasion; and he inferred that the gentleman, his companion, who
said very little, but whose manner was courteous and attentive, must
either be a particular friend of master’s or else some one from whom he
had received or was anticipating a favor.
“We should see more of each other, you know, Grant,” the baronet said
heartily. “A man makes many acquaintances as he moves on in the world,
but, damme, there are no friends like the friends of one’s youth, after
all! No friend has been more often in my thoughts during the last twenty
years than you have, and good reason, too!” To which, and to much more
of the same tendency, Mr. Grant responded in terms of grave and composed
politeness. Altogether it was a very amicable drive, and the weather and
the roads were all that could be desired.
Their route lay through Richmond and across the gray stone bridge that
separates the town from the parish of Twickenham. “When you ride home
to-night,” said Sir Francis, “you’ll find it an agreeable change to
follow the Isleworth road, on the west bank of the river; and cross by
Brentford Bridge. Mighty pretty quiet stretch, and but a trifle longer
if at all.” The footman could have told exactly how much further it was,
but of course held his peace, as he would have done had the baronet
affirmed it to be two miles shorter. Still bowling easily westward, the
horses tramped through the narrow winding street of a sleepy little
town, which seemed wearied out as it were with the burden of its
historic associations, and drew up at last before a wrought-iron gateway
in a high brick wall, the bricks cemented with green moss and crowned
with ivy. The gate having been promptly thrown open by the alert
footman, the horses tramped through it and up the graveled crescent of a
drive overshadowed with fragrant lime trees, until their driver pulled
them up before the gabled portal of an elderly but comfortable and
solid-looking edifice, faced with white plaster, and dignified by
far-projecting eaves. Tossing the reins to the man, Sir Francis got
actively down and assisted his friend to alight. They entered the house
arm-in-arm. A large cool shadowy hall received them; beyond, a broad
staircase, and opening inward to the right of it a vista of spacious
drawing-room, with windows giving upon a verandah, and a rich lawn at
the back of the house.
“Serve dinner at six, sharp!” said Sir Francis to the obeisant butler.
“Now, my dear Grant, no ceremony here, you know; but I remember your
fastidious habits. If you want to wash your hands, give yourself the
trouble to follow me up-stairs, and I think you’ll find everything
arranged to make you comfortable.”
“Uncommon civil the governor is to-day,” remarked the butler to the
footman, when the two gentlemen had disappeared in the upper regions.
“Who _his_ Mr. Grant, I’d like ter know?”
“Ha! you may arsk that, Mr. Tuppin,” returned the footman, with airs of
superior knowledge. “You may arsk that, and no blame to yer!”
“Well, I does hax it,” answered Mr. Tuppin brusquely; “not that I
supposes you can tell me hanythin’ about it, neither!”
“Ha! per-raps not!” retorted the footman, abandoning the vagueness of
mystery for the definiteness of imagination. “Per’aps I didn’t ’ear ’em
conversin’ as we came along, and the gent a-sayin’ as ’ow ’e’d arf a
millium as he was dyin’ to invest, and could the baronet adwise ’im on
the subjick? And the baronet he says, says ’e, ‘Why, if ten per cent. is
any good to you, my dear friend,’ says ’e, ‘I fancies we can take it
hoff yer ’ands and no questions arsked.’ And the gent ’e said as ’ow
‘e’d think about it.”
“Oh, that’s the story, his it?” said Mr. Tuppin, pushing up his eyebrows
and turning down the corners of his mouth. “Well, I thought it might ha’
been somethin’ new. But as fur that, my good feller,” he added, turning
away indifferently, “Sir Francis was talkin’ about it arter dinner no
longer ago nor day before yesterday. I ’eard ’im myself.”
To this assertion the footman was unable to frame a reply; being
undecided whether to credit his own ears with miraculous inspiration, or
to charge Mr. Tuppin with being a liar. The former course appearing the
more agreeable both to his vanity and his self-interest, he ended by
adopting it.
Dinner, instead of being served in the dining-room, which was in the
front part of the house, and commanded no pleasant outlook, was laid out
in the drawing-room, through the open windows of which the friends
could let their eyes wander out upon the expanse of silken turf, and the
verdurous masses of whispering foliage. A sentiment of cultured and
imperturbable repose was expressed by this little region: not the vacant
or helpless repose of wild nature; but the repose that comes of
over-ripeness, or of containing more than can be uttered. The quaint
ghosts of past times paced the deep smoothness of the lawn, and lurked
in the shadows of the trees.
“Other parts of the world are better, perhaps, to live in than England,”
remarked Mr. Grant: “but the place to die in is here.”
“What’s that? Die in? Pooh! time enough to talk of dying twenty years
hence,” cried the genial baronet.
“Twenty years is a long time to wait,” replied the other meditatively.
“The time to leave life is when you find it pleasant, but no longer
necessary. My former interests are finished. I should not care to become
absorbed in new ones; not in this world at all events.”
Here the servant entered with the after-dinner wine.
“We can’t afford to lose you yet awhile, my dear friend,” exclaimed the
baronet. “Now that we have you safely with us again, we mean to keep
hold of you. What do you say to finishing our wine out yonder on the
lawn? Yes--Tuppin, take the small table out, and a couple of chairs.
Such weather as this should be taken advantage of.”
“And, by the way,” he resumed, after the change had been made, and they
had been left finally alone in their seclusion, “talking about life in
England--whereabouts do you propose actually to settle? Of course I
assumed that you’ve no notion of remaining permanently in your present
quarters--not even if you have designs on the widow--eh? ha! ha!”
The other rested his eyes coldly on the baronet and replied: “Possibly
not: but I have no other definite plans touching a dwelling.”
“Well, if your coming back to England was as unexpected to you as it was
to us, your plans might easily be a bit ... undigested!”
“As to that, I question whether there was any moment during my absence
when I did not cherish the purpose of returning; and ’tis at least a
year ago that the date of my departure from India was fixed. What I
might do on my arrival was, indeed, another question.”
Sir Francis crossed one leg over another and caressed his shapely knee.
“Upon the whole, you know,” he said, “I rather wonder at your remaining
so faithful to us. You were well enough placed in India, I suppose?
Seems to me I would have stayed there. What did you expect to find here?
One’s acquaintances get pretty well used up in twenty years.”
“Considerations had weight with me that might not have affected you in
my place. I acted according to my feeling, as does every one who acts
freely.”
“Ah! I understand: the Marquise--eh? Parental affection and all that!
Well, does the lady reciprocate?”
This was uttered in a somewhat strained tone, and the speaker’s
countenance wore a smile that was anxious and perfunctory rather than
spontaneous and genial. But Mr. Grant seemed not to notice the
alteration.
“I can’t say I’ve been disappointed,” he replied; “perhaps because I
expected little. The child I left in your care has grown up to be a
woman of the world, wealthy and fashionable, and naturally not much
given to sentiment. She has fascination, ambition, and common sense; she
is quick-witted, independent and adventurous. I saw the germ of these
traits in her long ago; but I also saw--or so I fancied--a generous and
passionate heart, which might counterbalance whatever was dangerous in
her other qualities. Doubtless ’twas this hope that influenced my
determination to return to England.”
“Ah! a passionate and generous heart! ... well. And may I enquire whether
the lady meets your anticipations in that particular?”
Mr. Grant did not at once reply; but after awhile he said in a measured
tone, his eyes turned toward the ground, “With due allowance for
accidents and circumstances, I do not think my estimate of Perdita was a
mistaken one.”
“Accept my congratulations then!” rejoined the baronet, with a short and
heavy laugh. “I am to take it, then, that, in order to win the sympathy
of this passionate and generous heart, you have not spared the
reputation of the lady’s foster-father?”
Grant looked up quickly and keenly. “I made no such insinuation!” said
he.
“But you can’t deny the fact?”
“I’m not concerned either to deny or to admit it.”
“Well, well--you’re quite right: no use disputing about that. And
Fillmore--another sympathetic confidant, I presume?”
“As a man of affairs, I found Mr. Fillmore all I could wish.”
“Exactly! and who is to be next? I’m interested to know the persons who
are henceforth to behold me in my true colors! Or perhaps you intend to
be impartial in your favors, and publish the matter broadcast?” All this
was said with a kind of ghastly jocularity. “Let me hear just what I’m
to expect. That’s only fair--eh?”
“Doesn’t it occur to you, Frank,” said the other, looking fully at him,
while the color reddened in his face, “that what you are saying is
offensive? Has my past conduct given you grounds to adopt this tone
toward me? You try my temper, sir! and I ... I shall not, however,
allow myself to be angry.” By a manifest effort he, in fact, controlled
his rising heat, and constrained himself to an austere coldness.
The baronet seemed not to wish to provoke his guest any further. Either
he was afraid of him--and there was a stern fire at the heart of the
uniformly serene old gentleman which did not encourage wanton
experiment--or else there were reasons why he desired rather to
conciliate than to irritate him. “I expressed myself clumsily, Charles,”
he said. “ ’Pon my honor I meant no insult. But a man wants to know how
he stands--where he’s to look for enemies and where for friends. Now you
and I are not going to rake up old matters--eh? For good or bad, the
past is done with. The wrong can’t be righted now; you can’t right it,
nor can I; if I could, I would in a moment. But time has arranged things
after its own fashion. I did what I could for the wife and child, didn’t
I? I stuck to Perdita till she got a good husband, and then ’twas she
left me, not I her. You ... well--you made your way in the world, and if
all were known, perhaps you’re in a better position to-day than if all
this had never happened. But your turning up again has put a new face on
the affair--eh?”
“In what manner?”
“Why, in this manner--but you mustn’t mind my speaking out: we know each
other well enough not to stickle at formalities--eh?”
“Say on, sir.”
“I understand human nature as well as most men; and I don’t expect too
much of it--not even of you, my dear Charles. I can put myself in your
place, and look at things in your way. Quite right and natural you
should wish Perdita to feel toward you as a daughter to her father. And
as to Fillmore, of course it might be necessary, in doing business with
him, to enter into certain explanations: for Merton has his crotchets,
and is not the man to go into anything he doesn’t, in a certain way,
approve of. But, allowing all that, I have to consider my own position
also. I’m compromised; and taking my age and yours into consideration
(not to mention other things), it makes me doocidly uneasy. I can
believe you mean me no harm; but others might be less considerate. I’m
not half sure of Fillmore; and as for Perdita ... who trusts a woman at
the best of times?”
“Let me point out to you, Bendibow, that you are proceeding upon an
assumption of your own: namely, that my daughter and Mr. Fillmore know
your secret.”
“Well,” said the other, with a husky laugh, “appearances look that way,
and what’s more, you’ve not denied it.”
“I have neither denied nor affirmed it,” repeated Grant.
“Quite right of you not to commit yourself. But, passing that over, if
you really mean me no mischief, why the devil can’t you give me tangible
proof and pledge of it?”
“Bendibow, have you had any occasion to suspect me of unfriendliness
since my return here?”
“H’m! nothing definite, perhaps. But it would have seemed more natural
if you had banked with us instead of Childs, for instance.”
“That is a matter of financial judgment. You cannot expect me, who know
what your business practices are, to have the same confidence in your
financial orthodoxy that I have in Childs’? But I did leave a thousand
in your hands, precisely in order to avoid remark.”
“And if ’twere a hundred thousand, you might have it back, with
interest, to-morrow!” exclaimed Sir Francis with vehemence. “But that’s
not our topic. You have something in your possession--you know what I
mean--which you can’t object to making over to me, if we are friends.”
“Do you refer to the letter you wrote to me at the time”--
“Never mind the details! Yes, that’s the thing--that and the other
papers. Many a wakeful night they’ve given me, since then!”
“I shall never surrender them to you,” said Grant, with decision. “Your
only use for them would be to destroy them. They are my protection. My
personal security, as well as my right to my property, might depend on
them. Were you a far more trustworthy man than you have ever shown
yourself to me, Frank Bendibow, I would not place myself so helplessly
at your mercy.”
“You won’t let me have ’em, then?”
“No. I am immovable on that point. Remember, that the possession of
those papers was the condition of my action when ... twenty years since.
What influenced me then has at least as much weight now. You must be
content with some other pledge than that. An honest man should ask no
other pledge than an honest man’s word.”
“Look here, Grantley,” said the baronet, leaning forward and speaking in
a husky and uneven voice: “I swear to you by all that’s sacred, if
you’ll give me the papers, I’ll never take advantage of you. I’ll down
on my knees and take what oath you please--I’ll do it this moment if you
say so. Think, man! If anything should happen to you, and those things
were found and read, what would become of me ... but it’s not that--’tis
not myself I care about. If the worst comes to the worst, I should know
how to deal with myself. But it’s that boy of mine--poor little fellow!
I love him better than my own soul, or anything else. Sooner than he
should ever think ill of his father, I’d let you shoot me dead here
where I sit. All I live for is to make him happy, and leave him an
honorable name and fair prospects. And if, after all I’ve hoped and
done, he were to get wind of this--! I can’t endure to think of it!”
cried the baronet, his voice breaking.
“You’re the same Frank Bendibow as in the old days,” said the other
sadly. “I cared a great deal for you then, and I fear I’m not quite
cured of it yet. The worst is, you make yourself believe your own
deceptions. I won’t do what you ask; it would be to risk interests and
obligations which needn’t be mentioned now. But perhaps we might make
some compromise. The papers might be handed to some third person--to Mr.
Fillmore, for example”--
“Fillmore be damned!” cried the baronet violently, striking the table
with his fist, while his face flushed dark red. “I’ll have no
compromises! I’ll trust neither you nor Fillmore! How do I know what
plot you’ve been hatching against me this very day? Will you give me the
papers, or not? Yes or no?”
“I can only repeat that I will not,” said the baronet’s guest, gravely.
“Then.... But, oh, for God’s sake, Charley,” said Bendibow, abruptly
changing his tone from menace to entreaty, “think of my Tom! You’re a
father yourself, you”--
“Let’s have an end of this,” interrupted the other, between compassion
and scorn. “You needn’t fear for the boy, nor for yourself either. The
papers can never be made public, except by my voluntary act: and it
depends solely on you whether that ever becomes necessary. I always
carry them upon my person, in a sealed cover, addressed to a friend who,
on receiving them, and after taking certain precautions, would probably
destroy them. In case of my dying suddenly, therefore, you would suffer
no detriment. That’s all I have to say: and now, if you please, we’ll
drop the subject.”
“You always carry them about you?” repeated the baronet.
“I have them on me now. Isn’t it getting a little damp out here? My
Indian experience makes me cautious.”
“ ’Tis a cloudy night: there’ll be no dew,” said the baronet absently.
“What did you say? Yes, certainly, we’ll go into the house. I have some
prints I want you to look at. Wait a moment! I say, Charley--it’s all
right--it’s all right. I didn’t mean anything. Fact is, my head is not
always quite right, I fancy. I get carried away ... damme, I ask your
pardon--shake hands with me, Charley!”
He stretched out his hand and grasped the other’s, which he shook hard
and mechanically, then letting it go abruptly.
“Life’s a queer business!” he continued with a laugh. “We get pushed
into doing things we wouldn’t have believed ourselves capable of: ’tis
all circumstances ... fate! As far as I can see, I’m no worse nor better
than others. Come in--come into the study. The evening hasn’t begun
yet.”
“I must turn homewards. ’Twill be a dark night.”
“Pooh! not a bit of it. Can’t let you off before ten or eleven. And your
horse won’t be ready yet. Come now--else I’ll think you bear me a
grudge. You’ve had it your own way so far--give me my turn a bit
now--eh?”
“I’ll stay a little longer, if you wish,” said the guest courteously.
“That’s right! You shan’t go off to call me a brute and a bully. Why, we
used to hit it off pretty well together in the old times! Let’s have ’em
over again, for this one evening--eh? just as if nothing had happened.”
And herewith Sir Francis cast aside his dejection and preoccupation, and
became once more vivacious and agreeable. His guest had again occasion
to admire the man’s really great social and mental powers. Two or three
hours passed rapidly. Then, all at once, Sir Francis complained of
severe twinges in his right leg and foot.
“That damned gout of mine!” he exclaimed ruefully. “Ah! ah! all up with
me for the next day or two! Ah!--may I trouble you to ring that bell?
Tuppin--here, Tuppin! I’ve got another attack. See that everything in my
room is ready. Whew! Well, my dear Grant, sorry our evening should end
so. Better luck next time.”
“Shall I carry a message to your physician?” asked Grant, who had risen
to take his leave.
“No--oh, no--I have everything here; shall have to fight it out--no
hastening the thing--ah! Good-by, then, till next meeting.
Tuppin--ah!--Mr. Grant’s horse; have it brought round to the door.”
“The ’orse is quite ready, Sir Francis, if you please.”
“Good-by, then, Grant, good-by. The lower road, you know, through
Isleworth; the lower road, eh?”
“Thank you, I remember. Farewell, and a speedy recovery to you!” And
with a kindly look at his suffering host, Mr. Grant left the room under
the respectful guidance of Tuppin, and having bestowed a gratuity upon
that worthy butler, he mounted his horse and rode away into the summer
darkness.