"He--he--he--he--he! how cunning they do think themselves! What jolly
owd orstridges they are!" chuckled old Gemp, as he saw Bayle leave the
clerk's house, and return home to his breakfast. "Dear me! dear me! to
think of James Thickens marrying that old maid! Ah well! Of course, he
didn't go to her house for nothing!"
He was in the street, again, about ten, when the curate came out, and,
as soon as he saw him, Gemp doubled down one of the side lanes to get
round to the church, and secure a good place.
"They won't know in the town till it's over," he chuckled. "Sly trick!
He--he--he!"
The old fellow hurried round into the churchyard, getting before Bayle,
as he thought, and posting himself where he could meet the curate coming
in at the gate, and give him a look which should mean, "Ah! you can't
get over me!"
An observer would have found old Gemp's countenance a study, as he stood
there, waiting for Bayle to come, and meaning afterwards to stay and see
Thickens and Miss Heathery come in. But from where he stood he could
see the bank, and, to his surprise, he saw James Thickens come out on
the step, and directly after the curate went up to him, and they entered
the place together.
Gemp's countenance lengthened, and he began shaving himself directly,
his eyes falling upon one of the mouldering old tombstones, upon which
he involuntarily read:
"Lay not up for yourselves treasure--" The rest had mouldered away.
"Where thieves break through and steal," cried Gemp, whose jaw dropped.
"They're a consulting--parson and Sir Gordon--parson and Thickens
twiced--parson at the bank--Hallam up to his eyes in debt!"
He reeled, so strong was his emotion, but he recovered himself directly.
"My deeds! my money!" he gasped, "my--"
He could utter no more, for a strange giddiness assailed him, and after
clutching for a moment in the air, he fell down in a fit.
"Yes, he's in his room, sir," said Thickens, meeting Bayle at the bank
door. "I'll tell him you are here."
Hallam required no telling. He had seen Bayle come up, and he appeared
at the door of his room so calm and cool that his visitor felt a
moment's hesitation.
"Want to see me, Bayle? Business? Come in."
The door closed behind the curate, and James Thickens screwed his face
into wrinkles, and buttoned his coat up to the last button, as he seated
himself upon his stool.
"Well, what can I do for you, Bayle?" said Hallam, seating himself at
his table, after placing a chair for his visitor, which was not taken.
Bayle did not answer, but stood gazing down at the smooth,
handsome-looking man, with his artificial smile and easy manner; and it
seemed as if the events of the past few years--since he came, so young
and inexperienced, to the town--were flitting by him.
"A little money?--a little accommodation?" said Hallam, as his visitor
did not speak.
Could Thickens be wrong? No: impossible. Too many little things, that
had seemed unimportant before, now grew to a vast significance, and
Bayle cast aside his hesitancy, and, taking a step forward, laid his
hand upon the table.
"Robert Hallam!" he said, in a low, deep voice, full of emotion, "are
you aware of your position--how you stand?"
The manager started slightly, but the spasm passed in a moment, and he
said calmly, with a smile:
"My position? How I stand? I do not comprehend you! My dear Bayle,
what do you mean?" The curate gazed in his eyes, a calm, firm, judicial
look in his countenance; but Hallam did not flinch. And again the idea
flashed across the visitor's mind, "Suppose Thickens should be wrong!"
Again, though, he cast off his hesitation, and spoke out firmly.
"Let me be plain with you, Robert Hallam, and show you the precipice
upon whose edge you stand."
"Good heavens, Mr Bayle, are you ill?" said Hallam in the coolest
manner.
"Yes; sick at heart, to find of what treachery to employers, to wife and
child, a man like you can be guilty. Hallam, your great sin is
discovered! What have you to say?"
"Say!" cried Hallam, laughing scornfully, "say, in words that you use so
often, `Who made you a ruler and a judge?' What do you mean?"
"I came neither as ruler nor judge, but as the friend of your wife and
child. There--as your friend. Man, it is of no use to dissimulate!"
"Dissimulate, sir!"
"Am I to be plainer?" cried Bayle angrily, "and tell you that but for my
interposition James Thickens would at this moment be with Sir Gordon and
Mr Dixon, exposing your rascality."
"My rascality! How dare--"
"Dare!" cried Bayle sternly. "Cast off this contemptible mask, and be
frank. Do I not tell you I come as a friend?"
"Then explain yourself."
"I will," said Bayle; and for a few minutes there was a silence almost
appalling. The clock upon the mantelpiece ticked loudly; the stool upon
which James Thickens sat in the outer office gave a loud scroop; and a
large bluebottle fly shut in the room beat itself heavily against the
panes in its efforts to escape.
Bayle was alternately flushed and pale. Hallam, perfectly calm, paler
than usual, but beyond seeming hurt and annoyed, there was nothing to
indicate the truth of the terrible charge being brought against him.
"Well, sir," he said at last, "why do you not speak?"
Bayle gazed at him wonderingly, for all thought of his innocence had
passed away.
"I will speak, Hallam," he said. "Tell me the amount for which the
deeds you have abstracted from that safe are pledged."
"The deeds I have abstracted from that safe?" said Hallam, rising
slowly, and standing at his full height, with his head thrown back.
"Yes; and in whose place you have installed forgeries, dummies--
imitations, if you will."
That blow was too straight--too heavy to be resisted. Hallam dropped
back in his chair; while James Thickens, at his desk behind the bank
counter, heard the shock, and then fidgeted in his seat, and rubbed his
right ear, as he heard Hallam speak of him in a low voice, and say
hoarsely:
"Thickens, then, has told you this?"
"Yes," said Bayle in a lower tone. "He came to me for advice, and I
bade him do his duty."
"Hah!" said Hallam, and his eyes wandered about the room.
"This morning I begged him to wait."
"Hah!" ejaculated Hallam again, and now there was a sharp twitching
about his closely-shaven lips. "And you said that you came as our
friend?"
"I did."
"What do you mean?"
Bayle waited for a few moments, and then said slowly: "If you will
redeem those deeds with which you have been entrusted, and go from here,
and commence a new career of honesty, I will, for your wife and child's
sake, find the necessary money."
"You will? You will do this, Bayle?" cried Hallam, extending his hands,
which were not taken.
"I have told you I will," said Bayle coldly. "But--the amount?"
"How many thousands are they pledged for?--to some bank, of course?"
"It was to cover an unfortunate speculation. I--"
"I do not ask you for explanations," said Bayle coldly. "What amount
will clear your defalcations?"
"Twenty to twenty-one thousand," said Hallam, watching the effect of his
words.
"I will find the money within a week," said Bayle.
"Then all will be kept quiet?"
"Sir Gordon must be told."
"No, no; there is no need of that. The affairs will be put straight,
and matters can go on as before. It was an accident; I could not help
it. Stop, man, what are you going to do?"
"Call in Mr Thickens," said Bayle.
"To expose and degrade me in his eyes!"
Bayle turned upon him a withering contemptuous look.
"I expose you? Why, man, but for me you would have been in the hands of
the officers by now. Mr Thickens!"
Thickens got slowly down from his stool and entered the manager's room,
where Hallam met his eye with a look that made the clerk think of what
would have been his chances of life had opportunity served for him to be
silenced for ever.
"I have promised Mr Hallam to find twenty-one thousand pounds within a
week--to enable him to redeem the securities he has pledged."
"And under these circumstances, Mr Thickens, there is no need for this
trouble to be exposed."
"Not to the public perhaps," said Thickens slowly, "but Sir Gordon and
Mr Dixon ought to know."
"No, no," cried Hallam, "there is no need. Don't you see, man, that the
money will be made right?"
"No, sir, I only see one thing," said Thickens sturdily, "and that is
that I have my duty to do."
"But you will ruin me, Thickens."
"You've ruined yourself, Mr Hallam; I've waited too long."
"Stop, Mr Thickens," said Bayle. "I pay this heavy sum of money to
save Mr Hallam from utter ruin. The bank will be the gainer by twenty
thousand pounds."
"Twenty-one thousand you offered, sir," said Thickens.
"Exactly. More if it is needed. If you expose this terrible affair to
Sir Gordon and Mr Dixon they may feel it their duty to hand Mr Hallam
over to the hands of justice. He must be saved from that."
"What can I do, sir? There, then," said Thickens, "since you put it so
I will keep to it, but only on one condition."
"And what is that?"
"Mr Hallam must go away from the bank and leave all keys with me and
Mr Trampleasure."
"But what excuse am I to make?" said Hallam huskily.
"I don't think you want teaching how to stop at home for a few days, Mr
Hallam," said Thickens sternly; "you can be ill for a little while. It
will not be the first time."
"I will agree to anything," said Hallam excitedly, "only save me from
that other horror. Bayle, for our old friendship's sake, for the sake
of my poor wife and child, save me from that."
"Am I not fighting to save you for their sake?" said Bayle bitterly.
"Do you suppose that I am as conscienceless as yourself, and that I do
not feel how despicable, how dishonest a part I am playing in hindering
James Thickens from exposing your rascality? There, enough of this: let
us bring this terribly painful meeting, with its miserable subterfuges,
to an end. Thickens is right; you must leave this building at once and
not enter it again. He must take all in charge until your successor is
found."
"As you will," said Hallam, humbly. "There are the keys, Thickens, and
I am really ill. When Mr Bayle brings the money I will help in every
way I can. There."
Bayle hesitated a moment, and then mastered his dislike. "Come," he
said to Hallam, "there must be no whisper of this trouble in the town.
I will walk down with you to your house."
"As my gaoler?" said Hallam with a sneer.
"As another proof of what I am ready to sacrifice to save you," said
Bayle. He walked with him as far as his door.
"Stop a moment," said Hallam in a whisper. "You will do this for me,
Bayle?"
"I have told you I would," replied the curate coldly. "And at once?"
"At once."
"You will have to bring me the money. No, you must go up to town with
me, and we can redeem the papers. It will be better so."
"As you will," said Bayle. "I have told you that I will help you, will
put myself at your service. I will let you know when I can be ready.
Rest assured I shall waste no time in removing as much of this shadow as
I can from above their heads."
He met Hallam's eyes as he spoke, just as the latter had been furtively
Measuring, as it were, his height and strength, and then they parted.
End of Volume One.