A CROOKED BILLET
Once I saw the solid keeper of a well-known elephant (a grand mass of
sagacious substance, gentle, good, and amiable) try his hand among the
monkeys, creatures in their way as worthy, but of different fibre. These
too knew what kindness is, and had their sense of gratitude, but could
not stop to dwell upon it, and let it ripen in their hearts. The keeper,
accustomed to slow ways, and leisurely though deep emotion, exerted all
his charm of eye and benevolence of whistle, and offered baits to
cupboard-love, and even deigned to winsome ticklings of places not too
hairy to be touched by human tenderness. He gazed with zoologic pride at
the manager of the monkeys, who was putting a new lash on his whip; then
his glory flew into a shriek, for his thumb was bitten in twain, and a
jabber of general joy endorsed it.
So it is too sure to be with any man, who drawing reason from her higher
sources, applies the product of his skill, even in homoeopathic doses,
to that irrational creature--love. Strogue had no idea of the meaning of
that word. A traveller gets too-far abroad, too loose, and large, and
vague, and shifty, shallow with glancing instead of gazing, skimming the
world instead of letting it cream. Therefore to me there was scarcely a
crumb of comfort in all his assurances; and the only thing to stroke the
long anxiety the right way of the grain, and smooth its tissue, was to
keep on steadily with the labours of the day. And when these can be
carried on out of doors, under the sky, and (if so I may say) with the
eyes of the Lord smiling down on them, it is not to the credit of any
young man, if he kicks about under his blanket and groans, when the
night makes all things equal. Unless he has bodily pain, I mean--which
is another pair of shoes, that can never be unlaced by any effort of our
own.
Moreover, to see one's dearest friends escaping from some black
distress, and coming back to their usual cheer, and jokes, and pleasure
in the world around, takes or ought to take a lot of lead out of our own
handicap. Although my sister had never been by any means painfully
sympathetic with my misfortunes in the way of love, I was candid enough
to feel that this might be because I had never asked her. Such an
affection as mine was far beyond her understanding, a thing too holy to
be discussed by any girl with yellow hair in love with a member of the
Stock Exchange. But I quite forgave her all short-comings, the moment
she fell into real trouble, and I wiped her eyes almost as softly as if
they had been Dariel's. And this renewed our deep attachment, which had
lost perhaps some little of its warmth, when she took to finding virtues
in that marvellous Jackson Stoneman, which she had pronounced a hundred
times to be sadly deficient in her brother. However they revived and
flourished now; and I was not so mean as to ask how they came back, but
was proud of their possession. Let us take all the credit we can get,
from people who are fond of us; there will scarcely be enough to plug
the holes our other brethren pick in us.
Stoneman, too, having turned the corner by the narrowest of shaves, with
the paint shorn from his shaft and felly, but his box and axle as sound
as ever, was much improved for the present by the increase of humility.
Or perhaps it would be more correct to say, by the birth of that quality
within him; for if it had existed heretofore, it had been so true to
itself as to recoil from all recognition. Except of course in his first
love-time; for if a man cannot be humble then, Lucifer is no match for
him. It is needless to say that the losses of the firm were spread from
mouth to mouth at any figure that occurred to the imagination, long
before the senior partner himself could lay a loose measure along them.
But he managed to stick to the Hall and the Park; though he gave up his
yacht, and the hounds, and other enjoyments now too costly, and at
Grace's urgent order clave to money-making all the week, and left the
love for Sundays.
There was even some little talk about my throwing up the plough, and
harrow, pitchfork, flail, and stable-bucket, and quitting in despair the
land that had now become too honest to maintain mankind. To wit, I was
to join our Jackson, not as a partner (for the solid reason that I had
no capital), but as an agent, an assessor, or I forget what they called
it. My father wished it, and so did my mother, and every one except
myself; and I was doubting whether the sense of duty to my relatives
ought not to outweigh my own tastes and wishes, when all my thoughts
were upset again, and all my mind unsettled, by a letter just as
follows:--
"DEAR SIR,--I must seek pardon for neglect or carelessness about
something. But it did not enter my thoughts at first, that the
letter enclosed belongs to you, or perhaps to the lady to whom it
was written. And we have been on the railway, or at sea so much,
and in strange hotels, that I could not procure it from my boxes. I
hope that it is of no importance; but I now perceive that I have
been guilty of a sad want of attention, which may have caused blame
to fall on others. If so I beg to be pardoned by them, for I had no
intention of retaining what could never belong to me.--Your
obedient servant,
"DARIEL, daughter of IMAR."
The letter enclosed, or rather the note, was one of several little
billets, in which I had answered questions from Tom Erricker's sister,
Argyrophylla, during that most melancholy time, when there was no one
else to support her. She behaved, all through that terrible period, in a
faultless manner; such as even Dariel herself would have found it hard
to equal. Argyrophylla was just as mournful, just as trustful in the
Lord and the depth of heartfelt sympathy, just as determined to overcome
her own feelings for the sake of others, as the nicest girl that was
ever born, and therefore has to deal with death, could be. Any man who
could be cold to her (with her father just dead, and her mother scarcely
more than alive enough to moan) deserved to be screwed down, I say, and
find no one at his funeral. But I never care to defend myself. It is
clear enough what any one must think of this, being told that it was all
about some crayfish soup, which was more for the lawyer's delectation
than for mine:--
"MY MOST KIND AND THOUGHTFUL PILLA,--What matter for such trifles
now? Remember that all I care about is to be of service to you. It
would have been a weary day but for that consideration. Do exactly
as you feel inclined, but how happy I should be if you would come
down to dinner. [This I only wrote that I might try to make her eat
a bit, because she would not even take her gruel.] For the sake of
the many who love you, think a little of yourself, if a heart so
unselfish has the power. You must never speak as if I wished to be
elsewhere, unless your desire is to grieve me. You shall hear what
the lawyer has done for us by-and-by; but his chief wish is to
please us. You know quite well what mine is.--Ever yours, GEORGE
CRANLEIGH.
"P. S.--The canon most readily promised to officiate."
Now that such a simple letter, written when the cloth was laying, and
the room grown shadowy, yet full of thoughts of dinner-time--for Pilla
through her tears took care to keep the kitchen-jack alive--that a few
kind words like these of mine should start up as wilful enemies, is a
proof of that which men like Strogue might take into some dry coil of
brain, having filled it more with the study of mankind than with
converse of their Maker. To wit, that whenever any human being yields to
the goodwill towards his fellows which has been implanted in him, he is
making a fool of himself, without doing a bit of good to his brethren.
Let Strogue think so, if he likes, and prove it by a thousand instances;
he will not get me to believe it, or at any rate to act as if I did.
And here you will find, if you go on, that it was not so even in my own
case. At first it looked very bad indeed, and I made a grievance of it,
as any but a perfect man must do; and him I have still to meet with. How
on earth could that hasty note, written only for comfort in profound
distress, and with the warmth one feels for affliction, have fallen into
the hands of some vile enemy, who had used it to destroy my Dariel's
faith in me? Over and over again I read the words I had scrawled in a
hurry; and the more I pored over them the more distinctly I saw what
they might mean to Dariel. One most unlucky reference too would quench
any doubt she might try to cherish. In my brief account of that sad
affair at Sheffield, I mentioned, or should have done so, that Mr.
Erricker's old and trusted solicitor was gone from home at the time of
the sudden calamity, and his place had been supplied by a junior
partner, a peaceful young man, who would never take the lead. His only
anxiety was to keep within the possibility of mistake; and this (as the
widow was so ill, and entreated me to act for her) compelled me to be
content with legal sanction rather than counsel. But Dariel knowing
nought of that, or of the affliction in the house, would naturally
conclude that the lawyer was come to arrange for my marriage with poor
Pilla. "Well, this is a kettle of fish, and a kettle of devil-fish," I
thought; "but one great joy there is--my darling has not thrown me over
through a toss-up."
All my love (which had never been away, longer than I could live without
my heart) came back with a rush of double power, and a wild condition
prevailed with me. That cold letter of dismissal bore no date of time or
place, and afforded not a trace of the writer's whereabouts or
intentions, except that it bore the post-mark of Dresden, and a date now
four days old. Sûr Imar had told me more than once of his love for art,
and deep regret that his stormy life had allowed him no acquaintance
with it. Also he had shown me a very ancient--daub I should have called
it, but for the subject--supposed to be a portrait of our Lord on panel,
which according to legend had been brought by St. Peter when he came to
preach in the Caucasus. Although he was not sure of that tradition, the
Lesghian chief attached no small importance to this heirloom, and was
anxious to compare the face, or as much of it as could be descried, with
some of the first presentments, or conceptions, to be found in Europe.
He was gifted very richly, as all great men are, with the power of
moving slowly, not only abstaining from all attempt to rob Time of his
forelock, but also offering that old robber plenty of leisure to tug his
own. Thus the father of Dariel might stray through many a gallery,
museum, and cathedral, before he reached the Russian capital; and
wherever he was, there beyond a doubt would be his beloved daughter.
With this belief, I lost no time in going to see Strogue again, at least
to hear what he had to say, though I expected little comfort. The place
to which he now belonged, though it seemed more truly to belong to him,
was that ancient tavern "The London Rock," so called perhaps in
transcendence of the London Stone, which was not far off. An
old-fashioned, overhanging house, with windows like the stern-galleries
of a veteran three-decker, and a double door with big brass fittings,
and glass panels glancing; the whole withdrawn as with an inner meaning,
and prim sense of private rights, even from the organ-grinder, who
dictates to the alley, and the babies who tripudiate, with tongues that
can keep time, whenever dirty feet are weary. Strogue had seen all the
world almost, and was come back to the beginning of it, smiling at the
glee of childhood through the majesty of a placid smoke.
You never could take that man aback; perhaps because that sort of thing
had been done to him once too often. He sat in a hooded chair of state,
with a long pipe casting garlands of the true Nicotine forget-me-not,
like a floral crown for his emerit head; but his legs were in front of
him as they ought to be, and the day being still in its youth, no car of
Bacchus had begun to jingle through the calm realms of baccy. Or at
least, there was only one cool tankard, and the crown of froth was gone
from that.
"How is the rib?" I asked in my usual stupid way, for all enquiry was
out of place in a paradise so tranquil. And then I proceeded still more
ineptly by begging him not to be disturbed.
"What rib?" enquired Strogue, with as much surprise as he could
reconcile with his dignity.
"Why, the rib that was broken the other day," I answered, with some
sense of trespass on his constitution.
"I remember now; and I call it very kind of you to think of it. But I
understand my own inside, and can very soon put it right again. How are
you getting on with your love-affair, my boy?"
I did not see my way (as people always put it now, when they don't want
to do what you want of them)--I did not see the fitness of discussing
Dariel in this draught of echo, and with the bar in the background
clinking pots and mumbling chaff.
"Hold my pipe, while I get up," the Captain said magnanimously, for his
feet were on a leg-rest, and it was very good of him to move; "I never
take anything so early in the day; but I don't judge the juniors. Come
along, and bring my pewter."
When he had led me to an inner room, which appeared to be his sanctum, I
told him what had happened, but could not by any means bring myself to
show him Dariel's letter. And he did not ask for it; with all his
bluffness, at heart he was a gentleman.
"Cut up rough, of course," he said; "would not have been worth her salt,
if she hadn't. Only two things are added to our knowledge. One that they
have been at Dresden, and the other that Hafer has been at work with
that musk-rat of a Petheril. He sent him to Sheffield after you; that is
plainer than a pikestaff. He could not have gone on his own hook; for he
knows nothing of English ways, and very little of the language. He found
that I would not do his dirty work, and so he took up with that
blackguard. And cleaned me out, sir, cleaned me out! That is where I
shall never forgive myself, until I cry evens with him. Would you look
for any green lines in Bat Strogue, a tyke who has been round the
world?"
He stared at me so fiercely that I could scarce help laughing. Then he
laughed at himself, and said, "All right, by-and-by. You go and see if
Jemmy Nickols has heard anything. I can tell you one piece of good news.
I told you what I was in London about. It has turned out ever so much
better than I thought. Those confounded lawyers would not let me have a
copper. But I put the enemy's lawyer at them; and by Jove, sir, I expect
to get five thousand pounds. Not in a lump, mind; that would be too good
for an unlucky son of a gun like me; but a thousand by the end of
January, and the rest when some business in Yorkshire is wound up. So I
need not come down upon you for a penny; and more than that, my boy, I
will pay the piper, and you can pay your share, when your ship comes in.
We will have a grand time among the niggers. Don't thank me, or I'll
never forgive you. You have done me a good turn, and I'll repay it. Bat
Strogue is a Christian, because he backs his friends up. But he doesn't
hold with forgiving his enemies. He will have Hafer by the hip, and you
shall see it. Stop a moment; you know some great swells, don't you?"
"One or two people of title I know. But none of them are in London yet.
I could write to them, of course, if that would do as well."
"That never does as well. But they will soon come back. Parliament meets
rather early this year. And we must not expect to stir a stump till
March. My friend at Petersburg is not a great gun; of about my own mark,
but not of my distinction. Bless you, I can go to Court anywhere, and
plenty of bowing and scraping; but a tankard of malt is worth all of it.
If you could get a line under cover from a friend to our Ambassador at
Petersburg, he would pass it on to Sûr Imar when he gets there, and you
might make it right with your lady-love. I suppose that never occurred
to you. Strogue knows the way to go to work. What do you think of that,
my friend?"
"I think it is a very good suggestion, and very kind of you to think of
it. If I had not been in such a hurry, I daresay it would have occurred
to me."
"Not likely; but Nickols might have thought of it. And I daresay he
knows great guns too. All those diamond-mongers do. You will manage it
easily one way or another, and the sooner you do it the better. It will
put a spoke in Hafer's wheel, but not the one I mean to put. Ask Nickols
what sort of a winter they are having out that way. It might make a
great difference to us. They very seldom have it as ours is, generally
the very opposite. We are having it mild, so the chances are that they
have got a stinger. All Azof was frozen up, and a good bit of the Black
Sea, the last time I came that way, and in London and Paris there had
not been one day's skating. However, you keep ready."
This was the very thing I meant to do, as soon as ever I could get the
chance, and pick a little money up, for it was not likely that I would
let the Captain bear the charges. With many thanks to him, I took an
omnibus, and had a short conversation with Nickols. As soon as he had
heard my story, he approved of Strogue's suggestion, and quite agreed
with him that we should both be ready to start as soon as we could do
any good. At the same time he said that there was not much chance of any
mischief for the present, and he doubted whether Hafer had even returned
to his native country yet. It was much more likely that after his taste
of the sins of high civilization, which must have gone far to destroy
the zest for dull Caucasian villainies, he would hanker for another
sparkling draught, before going home to be frozen up. And now he had
Petheril with him, to guide and interpret all sweet baseness.
"Petheril! where have I heard that name? Not only from Strogue, but
somewhere else," I exclaimed, but could not remember.
For the rest, Signor Nicolo knew little, except that his nephew Jack was
getting the rough side of British enterprise. His last note was short
without any sweetness, unless it were a waft for Rosa, to whom he was
all the more faithful, while frozen.
"All been snowed up ever so long," he was tersely graphic with his
middle finger blue; "nothing to do, and less to eat. How I wish I had
only stopped away! Saved our lives with a goat that was frozen to death,
but had to eat him stiff, for the fire was frozen too. Tried to think
of mutton at Simpson's in the Strand; but imagination not warm enough.
Snow is white, and emeralds green. Shall never see anything green again,
unless it is gangrene in my toes. But you know that I never do
complain."
"True enough," said the Signor, as he warmed the letter that he might
not take a chill from it, "my nephew never does complain. But sometimes
he exaggerates, and that made my daughter like him. I shall not let her
know a word of this, or she might put some of the blame on me. I know
that it is sure to be cold out there, when you go too far up the
hillside. However, let us poke the fire up. You look rather chilly, Mr.
Cranleigh. Rosa knitted him two pairs of mittens; but perhaps he put
them by for keepsakes. Boys are so confoundedly romantic. But the wind
has changed since yesterday. Strogue is the only man I know who
understands the weather. He would warm poor Jack in no time."
"You had better send him out with another pair of mittens," I said, with
some natural indignation. But the Signor had a pleasant gift of deafness
to anything that twined against his twist.
"I shall see Strogue from time to time," he continued very comfortably;
"there is a great deal of good in that man, when you get over his little
oddities. And I am heartily glad to hear of his coming into property.
Probably he will not drink now so freely; because it would be his place
to pay for it. I know a fine fellow who was saved like that, when you
would not have given twopence for his life. However, your course is
clear, Mr. Cranleigh. Patience--what is it about the mulberry leaf? You
should certainly write to St. Petersburg at once. Your brother-in-law,
the Earl of Fitzragon, is sure to know some one who will do the needful
for you. Or if not, I think I could manage it. You have been very lucky
in falling in with Strogue, a man of great natural powers in his way,
and very wide observation. Allow me; your coat is a little on the twist.
You shall hear from me, if anything turns up. Ah, we want a little frost
to kill the slugs, though we don't want to live upon frozen goat."