Minnie Bodkin had not dismissed from her mind the rumours about Algernon
Errington, which she had heard from the widow Thimbleby. After some
consideration she resolved to speak to him directly on the subject, and
decided on the manner of doing so.
"I will not try to speak to him in the presence of other people," she
thought. "He would wriggle off and slip through my fingers if he found
the conversation had any tendency to become disagreeable. And then, too,
it might be difficult to speak to him without interruption."
This latter consideration had reference to Minnie's observation of Mrs.
Algernon, who never saw her husband engaged in conversation with Miss
Bodkin without unceremoniously thrusting herself between them.
The result of Minnie's deliberations was the sending of the following
note to the Whitford Post-office:--
"MY DEAR ALGERNON,--I want to say a word to you quietly. Can
you come to me on your way home this afternoon? I will be ready
to receive you at any hour between four and six. Don't
disappoint your old friend,
"M. B."
At a few minutes before five that evening Mr. Ancram Errington presented
himself at Dr. Bodkin's house, and was shown up to Minnie's room.
It was one of Minnie's good days. She was seated in her lounging-chair
by the fire, but she was not altogether reclining in it--merely leaning
a little back against the cushions. A small writing-table stood in front
of her. It was covered with papers--amongst them a copy of the local
newspaper--and she had evidently been busily occupied. When Algernon
entered she held out her hand with a smile of welcome. "This is very
good!" she exclaimed. "I was not sure that I should succeed in tearing
your postmastership away from the multifarious duties----"
Algernon winced, and held up his hand. "Don't, Minnie!" he cried. "For
mercy's sake, let me forget all that for half an hour!"
"Oh, reassure yourself, most overworked of public servants! It is not
about the conveyance of his Majesty's mails that I am going to talk to
you."
"Upon my word, I am infinitely relieved to hear it."
And, indeed, his countenance brightened at once, and he took a chair
opposite to Minnie with all his old nonchalant gaiety.
"How you hate your office!" said Minnie, looking at him curiously.
"More, even, than your native laziness--which I know to be
considerable--would seem to account for."
"Not at all! There is no difficulty in accounting for my distaste for
the whole business. There can be no difficulty. It is the simplest, most
obvious thing in the world!"
"Don't things go smoothly? Have you any special troubles or difficulties
in the office, Algernon?"
"Special troubles! My dear Minnie, what on earth are you driving at?"
"I am 'driving' at nothing more than the simple sense of my words
implies," she answered, with a marked shade of surprise in her
countenance. "I mean just what I say. Is your work going pretty
smoothly? Have you any complaints? Does your clerk do well?"
"Oh, Gibbs? Capitally, capitally! Old Obadiah is a first-rate fellow.
Did you know his name was Obadiah? Absurd name, isn't it? Oh yes; he's
all right. I trust him entirely--blindly. He has the whole thing in his
hands. He might do anything he liked in the office. I have every
confidence in Gibbs. But now, Minnie, let us have done with the subject.
If you had as much of it as I have you would understand----Come, dismiss
the bugaboo, or I shall think you have entrapped me here to talk to me
about the post-office. And I warn you I don't think I should be able to
stand that, even from you!"
"How absurdly you are exaggerating, Algy," said Minnie, shaking her head
at him, and yet smiling a little at the same time. "But be at peace. I
have nothing to say on the subject of the Whitford post-office. My
discourse will chiefly concern the Whitford postmaster, and----No! Don't
be so ridiculous! not in his official capacity, either!"
"Oh! Well, in his private character, I should think it impossible to
find a more delightful topic of conversation than that interesting and
accomplished individual," returned Errington, laughing and settling
himself comfortably in his chair.
"I hope it may prove so. Tell me, first, how is Mrs. Algernon Ancram
Errington?"
"Why, Castalia is not very well, I think, although I don't know what is
the matter. She grows thinner and thinner, and sallower and sallower.
_Entre nous_, Minnie, she frets and chafes against our life here. She
has not the gift of looking on the bright side of things. She is rather
peevish by nature. It's a little trying sometimes, coming on the back of
all the other botherations. Ha! There!" (passing his hand quickly across
his forehead) "let us say no more on that subject either. And now to
return to the interesting topic--the delightful and accomplished--eh?
What have you to say to me?"
Minnie seized on the opportunity, which chance had afforded her, to
introduce the matter she wished to speak about.
"Do you think your wife is annoyed by the importunities of tradespeople,
Algy? That would be enough to fret her and sour her temper."
"Importunities of tradespeople? Good gracious, no! And, besides, I don't
think Castalia would allow the importunities of tradespeople to disturb
her much. I should fancy that a Bourbon princess could scarcely look on
such folks from a more magnificent elevation than poor Castalia does.
But, _Que voulez-vous_? She was brought up in that sort of hauteur."
"I quite believe in your wife's disregard for the feelings of the
tradespeople," answered Minnie drily. "But this is a question of her own
feelings, you see. Come, Algernon, may I take the privilege of our old
friendship, and speak to you quite frankly?"
"Pray do, my dear Minnie. You know I always loved frankness."
He looked the picture of candour as he turned his bright blue eyes on
his friend.
"Well, then, to begin with a question. Do you not owe money to several
persons in Whitford?"
"My dear Minnie, don't look so solemn, for mercy's sake! 'Owe money!'
Why I suppose everybody owes money. A few pounds would cover all my
debts. I assure you I am never troubled on the subject."
"I am glad to hear it. But--will you forgive the liberty I am taking for
the sake of my motive, and give me _carte blanche_ to be as impertinent
as I please."
"With all my heart!" he answered unhesitatingly.
"Thanks, Algy. Then, to proceed without circumlocution: I am afraid
that, since neither you nor your wife are accustomed to domestic
economy, you may possibly be spending more money than is quite prudent,
without being aware of it. You say you are not disturbed by your debts;
but, Algy, I hear things on this subject which are never likely to reach
your ears; or not until it is too late for the knowledge of them to
serve you. And I have reason to think that there is a good deal of
unpleasant feeling among the Whitford tradespeople about you and yours."
"You will excuse me for observing that the Whitford tradespeople always
have been, within my recollection, a set of pig-headed, prejudicial
ignoramuses, and that I see no reason to apprehend any speedy
improvement in the intelligence of that highly respectable body."
"Don't laugh, Algernon. The matter is serious. You have not been
troubled yet, you say. But the trouble may begin at any moment, and I
should wish you to be prepared to meet it. You may have bills sent in
which----"
"Bills? Oh, as to that, there's no lack of them already! I must
acknowledge the great alacrity and punctuality with which the mercantile
classes of this town send in their weekly accounts. Oh dear yes, I have
a considerable collection of those interesting documents; so many, in
fact, that the other day, when Castalia was complaining of the
shabbiness of the paperhangings in our dining-room, I proposed to her to
cover the walls with the tradesmen's bills. It would be novel,
economical, and moral; a kind of _memento mori_--a death's head at the
feast! Fancy seeing your butcher's bill glaring down above the roast
mutton every day, and the greengrocer's 'To account delivered,'
restraining the spoon that might otherwise too lavishly dispense the
contents of the vegetable dishes!"
"Algy, Algy!"
"Upon my honour, Minnie, I made the suggestion. But Castalia looked as
grave as a judge. She didn't see it at all. The fact is, poor Cassy's
sense of humour is merely rudimentary."
Minnie joined her hands together on the table, and thus supported, she
leant a little forward, and looked searchingly at the young man.
"Algernon," she said with slow deliberation, "I begin to be afraid that
the case is worse than I thought."
"What do you mean?" he asked, almost roughly, and with a sudden change
of colour.
"I mean that you really are in difficult waters. How has it come to pass
that the weekly accounts have accumulated in this way?"
He laughed a little forced laugh, but he looked relieved, too.
"The process is simple. They keep sending 'em in!"
"And then it is said--forgive me if I appear intrusive--that you gave
orders for wine and such things out of Whitford. And that does not
incline the people of the place to be patient."
"Well, by Jove!" exclaimed Algernon, throwing himself back in his chair
and thrusting his hands into his pockets, "that is the most absurd--the
most irrational--the most preposterous reason for being angry with me!
They grumble when I run up a bill with them, and they are affronted when
I don't!"
"Does your wife understand--or--or control the household expenditure?"
"Bless you, no! She has not the very vaguest ideas of anything of the
kind. When she had an allowance from her uncle for her dress, my lord
used to have to come down every now and then with a supplementary sum of
money to get her out of debt."
He spoke with an air of perfectly easy amusement, and without a trace of
anxiety; unless, perhaps, an accustomed ear might have detected some
constraint in his voice.
"But could she not be made to understand? Why not give her some hints on
domestic economy? It should be done kindly, of course. And surely her
own good sense----"
Algernon pursed up his mouth and raised his eyebrows.
"She considers herself an unexampled victim as it is. I think 'lessons
on domestic economy' would about put the finishing stroke to the
internal felicity of Ivy Lodge!"
Minnie looked pained. They were trenching here on ground on which she
had no intention of venturing farther. It formed no part of her plan to
be drawn into a discussion respecting the defects and shortcomings of
Algernon's wife. She was silent.
Algernon got up from his chair, and came and stood before Minnie, taking
both her hands in his.
"My dear girl," he said, "I cannot tell you how much I feel your
kindness and friendship. But, now, pray don't look so terribly like the
tragic muse! I assure you there is no need, as far as we are concerned.
Castalia is perhaps a little extravagant; but, after all, what does it
amount to? A few pounds would cover all I owe. The whole of our budget
is a mere bagatelle. The fact is, you have attached too much importance
to the chatter of these thick-headed boobies. They hate us, I suppose,
because Castalia's uncle is a peer of the realm, and because we dine
late, and because we prefer claret to Double X--or for some equally
excellent and conclusive reasons."
"I don't know that they hate you, Algy," returned Minnie, but not with
an air of very perfect conviction. "And, after all, it is scarcely a
proof of personal malignity to wish to be paid one's bill!"
Algernon laughed quite genuinely. "Oh yes it is!" he cried. "A proof of
the direst malignity. What worse can they do?"
"Well, Algernon, I cannot presume to push my sermonisings on you any
farther. You will give me credit at least for having ventured to make
them from a single-minded wish to be of some service to you."
"My dear Minnie! you are the 'best fellow' in the world! (You remember I
used to call you so in my saucy, school-boy days, and when your majesty
condescended to permit my impertinences?) And to show you how thoroughly
I appreciate your friendship, I don't mind telling you that when I am
removed from this d---- delightful berth that I now occupy, I shall have
to get Uncle Seely to help us out a little. But I feel no scruple about
that. Something is due to me. I ought never to have been placed here at
all. Well, no matter! It was a mistake. My lord sees it now, and he is
setting to work in earnest for me in other quarters. I have every
reason to believe that I shall get very pretty promotion before long. It
isn't my business to go about proclaiming this to the butchers and
bakers, is it? And between you and me, Miss Bodkin, your dear
Whitfordians are as great rogues as the tradesmen in town, and vastly
less pleasant to deal with. They make us pay an enormous percentage for
the trifling credit we take. So let 'em wait and be----paid! Dear
Minnie, I assure you I shall not forget your affectionate kindness."
He bent down over her as he said the last words, still holding her
hands. A change in Minnie's face made him look round, and when he did
so, he saw his wife standing just within the room behind him.
Minnie was inexpressibly vexed with herself to feel a hot flush covering
her face. She knew it would be misconstrued, and that made her colour
the more. Mrs. Algernon Errington was the first to speak.
"I beg your pardon, Miss Bodkin," she said, "I didn't know that you were
so particularly engaged."
"What the deuce brought you here?" asked her husband, with a not
altogether successful assumption of thinking the whole trio, including
himself, completely at their ease.
"There was no one in the drawing-room nor in the study," continued
Castalia, still addressing Minnie, "so I thought I would come direct to
your room. I see now that I ought not to have taken that liberty."
"Well, frankly, I don't think you ought, my dear," said her husband,
lightly.
Minnie was sorely tempted to say so too. But she felt that any show of
anger on her part would but increase the unpleasantness of the
situation, and a quarrel with Algernon's wife under such circumstances
would have been equally revolting to her pride and her taste; so she
held out her hand to Castalia with grave courtesy, and said, "I have to
apologise, on my side, for having taken the privilege of old friendship
to sermonise your husband a little. He will tell you what I have
ventured to speak to him about. I hope you will forgive me."
Castalia appeared not to see the proffered hand. She stood quite still
near the door as she answered, "Oh, I daresay it is all quite right. I
don't suppose Ancram will tell me anything about it; I am not in his
secrets."
"This is no secret, Mrs. Errington; at all events, not from you."
"Oh, I don't know. But I daresay it doesn't matter."
Through all the languid insolence of her manner there was discernible so
much real pain of mind, that Minnie once more checked a severe speech,
and answered gently, "You will judge of that. Of course Algernon will
discuss the subject of our conversation with you."
Mrs. Algernon Errington scarcely condescended to return Minnie's parting
salutation, but walked away, saying to her husband over her shoulder, "I
am going to drive home. It is nearly dinner-time. I suppose you are
coming? But don't let me interfere with your arrangements."
"Interfere with a fiddlestick!" cried Algernon in the quick, testy tone
that was the nearest approach to loss of temper Minnie had ever seen in
him. Then he added after an instant, with a short laugh, "I don't know
why I'm supposed not to include dinner in my 'arrangements' to-day of
all days in the year!"
And then the husband and wife went away together, and entered the fly
that awaited them before Dr. Bodkin's door.
"How did you know where to find me?" asked Algernon suddenly, after a
silent drive of some ten minutes.
"Oh, I knew you had a rendezvous."
"I had no 'rendezvous.' You could not know it!"
"Couldn't I? I tell you I saw that creature's letter. 'Dear Algernon!'
What right has she to write to you like that?"
And Castalia burst into angry tears.
Algernon turned upon her eagerly.
"Saw her letter? Where? How?"
"I----they told me----it was at the office."
"You went to the office? And you saw Minnie's letter?"
"I----it's no use scolding me, or pretending to be injured. I know who
is injured of us two."
"I suppose I must have left the note lying open on the table of my
office," said Algernon, speaking very distinctly, and not looking at
his wife.
"Yes; that must be it! I----I----I tore it up. You will find the
fragments on the floor if you think them worth preserving."
"What a goose you are, Castalia!" exclaimed her husband, leaning back in
the carriage and closing his eyes.
Now, the fact was that Algernon distinctly remembered having placed
Minnie's note in a drawer of a little secretaire which he kept
habitually locked, and of which the key was at that moment in his
waistcoat pocket. And the discovery that his wife had in some way or
other obtained access to the said secretaire gave him, for reasons known
only to himself, abundant food for conjecture and reflection during the
rest of the drive home.
END OF VOL. II.