After the Christmas party at Ambles John managed to secure a
tranquillity that, however brief and deceptive he felt it was like to
be, nevertheless encouraged him sufficiently to make considerable
progress with the play while it lasted. Perhaps Eleanor's warning had
sunk deeper than she might have supposed from the apparent result of
that little chat with her brother-in-law about his future; at any rate,
he was so firmly determined not to give the most evil mind the least
opportunity for malicious exaggeration that in self-defense he devoted
to Joan of Arc a more exclusive attention than he had hitherto devoted
to any of his dramatic personages. Moreover, in his anxiety to prove how
abominably unjust the insinuations of his family were, he imparted to
his heroine some of his own temporary remoteness from the ordinary
follies and failings of humanity.
"We are too much obsessed by sex nowadays," he announced at the club one
afternoon, and was tempted to expatiate upon his romantic shibboleth to
several worn out old gentlemen who had assented to this proposition.
"After all," he argued, "life is not all sex. I've lately been
enormously struck by that in the course of my work. Take Joan of Arc for
instance. Do we find any sex obsession in her? None. But is she less
psychologically interesting on that account? No. Sex is the particular
bane of modern writers. Frankly, I cannot read a novel nowadays. I
suppose I'm old-fashioned, but I'd rather be called old-fashioned than
asked to appreciate one of these young modern writers. I suppose there's
no man more willing than myself to march with the times, but I like the
high roads of literature, not the muddy lanes...."
"The John Longs and John Lanes that have no turnings," a club wag put
in.
"Look at Stevenson," the dramatist continued, without paying any
attention to the stupid interruption. "When Stevenson wrote a love scene
he used to blush."
"So would any one who had written love scenes as bad as his," sniggered
a young man, who seemed oblivious of his very recent election to the
club.
The old members looked at him severely, not because he had sneered at
Stevenson, but because, without being spoken to, he had volunteered a
remark in the club smoking-room at least five years too soon.
"I've got a young brother who thinks like you," said John, with friendly
condescension.
"Yes, I know him," the young man casually replied.
John was taken aback; it struck him as monstrous that a friend of Hugh's
should have secured election to _his_ club. The sanctity of the retreat
had been violated, and he could not understand what the world was coming
to.
"How is Hugh?" the young man went on, without apparently being the least
conscious of any difference between the two brothers. "Down at your
place in Hampshire, isn't he? Lucky chap; though they tell me you
haven't got many pheasants."
"I beg your pardon?"
"You don't preserve?"
"No, I do not preserve." John would have liked to add "except the
decencies of intercourse between old and young in a club smoking-room";
but he refrained.
"Perhaps you're right," said the young man. "These are tough times for
landed proprietors. Well, give my love to Hugh when you see him," he
added, and turning on his heel disappeared into the haze of a more
remote portion of the smoking-room.
"Who is that youth?" John demanded.
The old members shook their heads helplessly, and one of the waiters was
called up to be interrogated.
"Mr. Winnington-Carr, I believe, sir," he informed them.
"How long has he been a member?"
"About a week, I believe, sir."
John looked daggers of exclamation at the other members.
"We shall have perambulators waiting in the lobby before we know where
we are," he said, bitterly.
Everybody agreed that these ill-considered elections were a scandal to a
famous club, and John, relinquishing the obsession of sex as a topic,
took up the obsession of youth, which he most convincingly proved to be
the curse of modern life.
It was probably Mr. Winnington-Carr's election that brought home to John
the necessity of occupying himself immediately with his brother's
future; at this rate he should find Hugh himself a member of his club
before he knew where he was.
"I'm worrying about my young brother," he told Miss Hamilton next day,
and looked at her sharply to watch the effect of this remark.
"Why, has he been misbehaving himself again?"
"No, not exactly misbehaving; but a friend of his has just been elected
to my club, and I don't think it's good for Hugh to be hanging about in
idleness. I do wish I could find the address of that man Raikes from
British Honduras."
"Where is it likely to be?"
"It was a visiting-card. It might be anywhere."
"If it was a visiting-card, the most likely place to find it is in one
of your waistcoat-pockets."
John regarded his secretary with the admiration that such a practical
suggestion justified, and rang the bell.
"Maud, please bring down all my waistcoats," he told his valeting
parlor-maid, who presently appeared in the library bowed down by a heap
of clothes as a laborer is bowed down by a truss of hay.
In the twenty-seventh waistcoat that was examined the card was found:
* * * * *
Mr. Sydney Ricketts.
14 Lyonesse Road, Belize,
Balam, S.W., British Honduras.
"I thought his name was Raikes," John muttered, indignantly.
"Never mind. A rose by any other name...." Miss Hamilton began.
John might almost have been said to interrupt what she was going to say
with an angry glare; but she only laughed merrily at his fierce
expression.
"Oh, I beg your pardon--I'd forgotten your objection to roses."
Mr. Ricketts, who was fortunately still in London, accepted John's
invitation to come and see him at Church Row on business. He was a
lantern-jawed man with a tremendous capacity for cocktails, a sinewy
neck, and a sentimental affection for his native suburb. At the same
time, he would not hear a word against British Honduras.
"I reckon our regatta at Belize is the prettiest little regatta in the
world."
"But the future of logwood and mahogany?" John insisted.
"Great," the visitor assured him. "Why don't _you_ come out to us? You'd
lose a lot of weight if you worked for a few months up the Zucara river.
Here's a photograph of some of our boys loading logwood."
"They look very hot," said John, politely.
"They are very hot," said Mr. Ricketts. "You can't expect to grow
logwood in Iceland."
"No, of course not. I understand that."
In the end it was decided that John should invest L2000 in the logwood
and mahogany business and that sometime in February Hugh should be ready
to sail with Mr. Ricketts to Central America.
"Of course he'll want to learn something about the conditions of the
trade at first. Yes, I reckon your brother will stay in Belize at
first," said the planter, scratching his throat so significantly that
John made haste to fill up his glass, thinking to himself that, if the
cocktails at the Belize Yacht Club were as good as Mr. Ricketts boasted,
Hugh would be unlikely ever to see much more of mahogany than he saw of
it at present cut and rounded and polished to the shape of a solid
dining-room table. However, the more attractive Belize, the less
attractive England.
"I think you told me this was your first visit home in fifteen years?"
he asked.
"That's right. Fifteen years in B.H."
"B.H.?" repeated the new speculator, nervously.
"British Honduras."
"Oh, I beg your pardon. The initials associated themselves in my mind
for the moment with another place. B.H. you call it. Very appropriate I
should think. I suppose you found many changes in Balham on your
return?"
"Wouldn't have known it again," said Mr. Ricketts. "For one thing they'd
changed all the lamp-posts along our road. That's the kind of thing to
teach a man he's growing old."
Perhaps Hugh wouldn't recognize Hampstead after fifteen years, John
thought, gleefully; he might even pass his nearest relations in the
street without a salute when like a Rip van Winkle of the tropics he
returned to his native country after fifteen years.
"I suppose the usual outfit for hot climates will be necessary?"
Mr. Ricketts nodded; and John began to envisage himself equipping Hugh
from the Army and Navy Stores.
"I always think there is something extraordinarily romantic about a
tropical outfit," he ventured.
"It's extraordinarily expensive," said Mr. Ricketts. "But everything's
going up. And mahogany's going up when I get back to B.H., or my name
isn't Sydney Ricketts."
"There's nothing you particularly recommend?"
"No, they'll tell you everything you want at the Stores and a bit over,
except--oh, yes, by the way, don't let him forget his shaker."
"Is that some special kind of porous overcoat?"
Mr. Ricketts laughed delightedly.
"Well, if that isn't the best thing I've heard since I was home. Porous
overcoat! No, no, a shaker is for mixing drinks."
"Humph!" John grunted. "From what I know of my brother, he won't require
any special instrument for doing that. Good-by, Mr. Ricketts; my
solicitor will write to you about the business side. Good-by."
When John went back to his work he was humming.
"Satisfactory?" his secretary inquired.
"Extremely satisfactory. I think Hugh is very lucky. Ricketts assures me
that in another fifteen years--that is about the time Hugh will be
wanting to visit England again--there is no reason why he shouldn't be
making at least L500 a year. Besides, he won't be lonely, because I
shall send Harold out to British Honduras in another five years. It must
be a fascinating place if you're fond of natural history, B.H.--as the
denizens apparently call it among themselves," he added, pensively.
It could not be claimed that Hugh was enraptured by the prospect of
leaving England in February, and John who was really looking forward to
the job of getting together his outfit was disappointed by his brother's
lack of enthusiasm. He simply could not understand anybody's failure to
be thrilled by snake-proof blankets and fever-proof filters, by
medicine-chests and pith helmets and double-fly tents and all the
paraphernalia of adventure in foreign parts. Finally he delivered an
ultimatum to Hugh, which was accepted albeit with ill grace, and
hardening his heart against the crossed letters of protest that arrived
daily from his mother and burying himself in an Army and Navy Stores'
catalogue, he was able to intrench himself in the opinion that he was
doing the best that could be done for the scapegrace. The worst of
putting Hugh on his feet again was the resentment such a brotherly
action aroused among his other relations. After the quarrel with James
he had hardly expected to hear from him for a long time; but no sooner
had the news about British Honduras gone the round of the family than
his eldest brother wrote to ask him for a loan of L1000 to invest in a
projected critical weekly of which he was to be the editor. James added
that John could hardly grudge him as much as that for log-rolling at
home when he was prepared to spend double that amount on Hugh to roll
logs abroad.
"I can't say I feel inclined to help James after that article about my
work," John observed to Miss Hamilton. "Besides, I hate critical
weeklies."
It happened that the post next morning brought a large check from his
agent for royalties on various dramas that in various theaters all over
the world were playing to big business; confronted by that bright-hued
token of prosperity he could not bring himself to sit down and pen a
flat refusal to his brother's demand. Instead of doing that he merely
delayed for a few hours the birth of a new critical weekly by making an
appointment to talk the matter over, and it was only a fleeting pleasure
that he obtained from adding a postscript begging James not to bring his
dog with him when he called at Church Row.
"For if that wretched animal goes snorting round the room all the time
we're talking," he assured his secretary, "I shall agree to anything in
order to get rid of it. I shall find all my available capital invested
in critical weeklies just to save the carpet from being eaten."
James seemed to have entirely forgotten that his brother had any reason
to feel sore with him; he also seemed entirely unconscious of there
being the least likelihood of his refusing to finance the new venture.
John remembering how angry James had been when on a former occasion he
had reminded him that Hugh's career was still before him, was careful to
avoid the least suggestion of throwing cold water upon the scheme.
Therefore in the circumstances James' unusual optimism, which lent his
sallow cheeks some of the playwright's roses, was not surprising, and
before the conversation had lasted many minutes John had half promised a
thousand pounds. Having done this, he did try to retrieve the situation
by advising James to invest it in railway-stock and argued strongly
against the necessity of another journal.
"What are you going to call this further unnecessary burden upon our
powers of assimilation?"
"_I_ thought _The New Broom_ would be a good title."
"Yes, I was positive you'd call it The New-Something-or-other. Why not
The New Way to pay Old Scores? I'll back you to do that, even if you
can't pay your old debts. However, listen to me. I'll lend the money to
you personally. But I will not invest it in the paper. For security--or
perhaps compensation would be a better word--you shall hand over to me
the family portraits and the family silver."
"I'd rather it was a business proposition," James objected.
"My dear fellow, a new critical weekly can never be a business
proposition. How many people read your books?"
"About a dozen," James calculated.
"Well, why should more people read your paper? No, you can have the
money, but it must be regarded as a personal loan, and I must have the
portraits and the silver."
"I don't see why you should have them."
"I don't see why you should start a new critical weekly."
John could not help enjoying the power that his brother's ambition had
put in his hands and he insisted firmly upon the surrender of the
heritage.
"All right, Jacob, I suppose I must sell my birthright for a mess of
pottage."
"A printer's pie would describe it better," said John.
"Though why you want a few bad pictures and a dozen or so forks and
spoons, I can't conceive."
"Why do you want them?" John countered.
"Because they're mine."
"And the money is mine."
James went away with a check for a thousand pounds in his pocket; but he
went away less cheerful than he arrived. John, on the other hand, was
much impressed by the manner in which he had dealt with his eldest
brother; it was worth while losing a thousand pounds to have been able
to demonstrate clearly to James once for all that his taste in
literature was at the mercy of the romanticism he so utterly despised.
And while he felt that he had displayed a nice dignity in forcing James
to surrender the portraits and the silver, he was also pleasantly aware
of an equally nice magnanimity in being willing to overlook that
insulting article. But Miss Hamilton was at his elbow to correct the
slightest tendency to be too well pleased with himself.
"After all I couldn't disappoint poor old James," he said, fishing for
an encomium and dangling his own good heart as the bait. His secretary,
however, ignored the tempting morsel and swam away into the deeps of
romantic drama where his munificence seemed less showy somehow.
"You know best what you _want_ to do," she said, curtly. "And now, have
you decided upon this soliloquy for Joan in her dungeon?"
"What do you feel about it?"
She held forth upon the advantages of a quiet front scene before the
trial, and the author took her advice. He wished that she were as
willing to discant upon his treatment of James, but he consoled himself
for her lack of interest by supposing that she was diffident about
giving the least color to any suggestion that she might be influencing
him to her own advantage.
Hugh came up to town in order to go more fully into the question of his
future, and John regarding Miss Hamilton's attitude towards him tried to
feel perfectly sure that she was going out of her way to be pleasant to
Hugh solely with an idea of accentuating the strictly professional side
of her association with himself. If this were not the case, he should be
justified in thinking that she did really like Hugh very much, which
would be an uncomfortable state of affairs. Still, explain it away as he
might, John did feel a little uneasy, and once when he heard of a visit
to the theater preceded by dinner he was upon the verge of pointing out
to Hugh that until he was definitely established in mahogany and
logwood he must be extremely careful about raising false hopes. He
managed to refrain from approaching Hugh on the subject, because he knew
that if he betrayed the least anxiety in that direction Hugh was capable
of making it a matter of public jest. He decided instead to sound Miss
Hamilton upon her views.
"You've never had any longing for the tropics?" he asked, as casually as
he was able.
"Not particularly, though of course I should enjoy any fresh
experience."
"I was noticing the other day that you seemed to dislike spiders; and,
of course, the spiders in hot countries are terrible. I remember reading
of some that snare birds, and I'm not sure that in parts of South
America they don't even attack human beings. Many people of course do
not mind them. For instance, my brother-in-law Daniel Curtis wrote a
very moving account of a spider as large as a bat, with whom he
fraternized on the banks of the Orinoco. It's quite a little classic in
its way."
John noted with the warmest satisfaction that Miss Hamilton shuddered.
"Your poor brother," she murmured.
"Oh, he'll be all right," said John, hurriedly. "I'm equipping him with
every kind of protection against insects. Only yesterday I discovered a
most ingenious box which is guaranteed to keep one's tobacco from being
devoured by cockroaches, and I thought Hugh looked very well in his pith
helmet, didn't you?"
"I'm afraid I really didn't notice," Miss Hamilton replied,
indifferently.
Soon after this conversation James' birthright was formally surrendered
and John gave up contemplating himself upon a peak in Darien in order to
contemplate himself as the head of an ancient and distinguished family.
While the portraits were being hung in the library he discoursed upon
the romance of lineage so volubly that he had a sudden dread of Miss
Hamilton taking him for a snob, which he tried to counteract by putting
into the mouth of Joan of Arc sentiments of the purest demophilism.
"I shall aim at getting all the material for the play complete by April
1st--my birthday, by the way. Yes, I shall be forty-three. And then I
thought we might go into retreat and aim at finishing entirely by the
end of June. That would enable Miss Bond to produce in September without
hurrying the rehearsals. _Lucretia_ will be produced over here in April.
I think it would be rather jolly to finish off the play in France.
Domremy, Bourges, Chinon, Orleans, Compiegne, Rouen--a delightful tour.
You could have an aluminum typewriter...."
John's dreams of literature and life in France were interrupted by Mrs.
Worfolk, who entered the room with a mystery upon her lips.
"There's the Reverend Armitage waiting to see you in the hall, sir. But
he was looking so queer that I was in two minds if I ought to admit him
or not. It was Elsa who happened to open the door. Well, I mean to say,
Maud's upstairs doing her rooms, and Elsa was a bit frightened when she
saw him, through her being engaged to a policeman and so her mind
running on murders and such like. Of course as soon as I saw it was the
Reverend Armitage I quieted her down. But he really does look most
peculiar, if you'll pardon the obsivation on Mrs. Armitage's husband. I
don't think he's actually barmy _yet_; but you know, he gives any one
the idea he will be soon, and I thought you ought to be told before he
started to rave up and down the house. He's got a funny look in his eye,
the same as what a man once had who sat opposite me in a bus and five
minutes afterwards jumped off on Hammersmith Bridge and threw himself
into the river. Quite a sensation it created, I remember, and we all had
to alight, so as the conductor could give what information he had to a
policeman who'd only heard the splash."
Mrs. Worfolk had been too garrulous; before she had time to ascertain
her master's views on the subject of admitting Laurence there was a tap
at the door, and Laurence himself stalked into the room. Unquestionably,
even to one who had not known him as a clergyman, he did present an odd
appearance with his fur-lined cloak of voluminous black, his long hair,
his bundle of manuscript and theatrical newspapers, and his tragic eye;
the only article of attire that had survived his loss of faith was the
clergyman's hat; but even that had lost its former meekness and now gave
the effect of a farouche sombrero.
"Well met," he intoned, advancing solemnly into the room and gripping
his brother-in-law's hand with dramatic effect. "I would converse with
you, John."
"That's a blank verse line," said John. There really was not much else
that he could have said to such an affected greeting.
"Probably, probably," Laurence muttered, shaking his head. "It's
difficult for me to talk in prose nowadays. But I have news for you,
John, good news. _Thomas_ is finished."
"You needn't wait, Mrs. Worfolk," said John.
His housekeeper was standing by the door with a face wreathed in notes
of interrogation and seemed unwilling to retire.
"You needn't wait, Mrs. Worfolk," he repeated, irritably.
"I thought you might have been wanting somebody fetched, sir."
John made an impatient gesture and Mrs. Worfolk vanished.
"You know Miss Hamilton, Laurence," said John, severely.
"Ah, Miss Hamilton! Forgive my abstraction. How d'ye do? But--ah--I was
anxious to have a few words in private."
"Miss Hamilton is my confidential secretary."
"I bow to your domestic arrangements," said Laurence. "But--ah--my
business is of an extremely private nature. It bears in fact directly
upon my future."
John was determined to keep his secretary in the room. He had a feeling
that money was going to be asked for, and he hoped that her presence
would encourage him to hold out against agreeing to lend it.
"If you have anything to say to me, Laurence, you must say it in front
of my secretary. I cannot be continually shooing her from the room like
a troublesome cat."
The ex-vicar looked awkward for a moment; but his natural conceit
reasserted itself and flinging back his cloak he laid upon the table a
manuscript.
"Fresh from Miss Quirk's typewriting office here is _Thomas_," he
announced. "And now, my dear fellow, I require a little good advice."
There was flowing into his voice the professional unction of the
clergyman with a north transept to restore. "Who was it that first said
'Charity begins at home'? Yes, a little good advice about my play. In
deference to the Lord Chamberlain while reserving to my conscience the
right to execrate his despotism I have expunged from my scenes the
_central_ figures of the gospel story, and I venture to think that there
is now no reason why _Thomas_ should not be--ah--produced."
"I'm afraid I can't invite you to read it to me just at present,
Laurence," said John, hurriedly. "No, not just at present, I'm afraid.
When I'm working myself I'm always chary of being exposed to outside
influences. _You_ wouldn't like and _I_ shouldn't like to find in _Joan
of Arc_ echoes of _Thomas_. Miss Hamilton, however, who is thoroughly
conversant with my point of view, would perhaps...."
"I confess," Laurence interrupted, loftily, "that I do not set much
store by its being read. No, no. You will acquit me of undue
self-esteem, my dear fellow, if I say at once in all modesty that I am
satisfied with my labors, though you may be a little alarmed when I
confide in you my opinion that it is probably a classic. Still, such is
my deliberate conviction. Moreover, I have already allowed our little
party at Ambles to hear it. Yes, we spent a memorable evening before the
manuscript was dispatched to Miss Quirk. Some of the scenes, indeed,
proved almost too dramatic. Edith was quite exhausted by her emotion
and scarcely slept all night. As for Hilda, I've never seen her so
overcome by anything. She couldn't say anything when I finished. No, no,
I sha'n't read it to you. In fact, to be--ah--blunt, I could scarcely
endure the strain a second time. No, what I want you to do, my dear
fellow, is to--ah--back it. The phrase is Hugh's. We have all been
thrilled down at Ambles by rumors of your generosity, and I know you'll
be glad of another medium for exercising it. Am I unduly proud of my
work if I say that it seems to me a more worthy medium than British
Honduras or weekly papers?"
John had been gazing at Miss Hamilton with a mute appeal to save him
while his brother-in-law was talking; she, however, bending lower every
moment to hide her mirth made no attempt to show him a way of escape and
John had to rely upon his own efforts.
"Wouldn't it be better," he suggested, mildly, "to submit your play to a
manager before we--before you try to put it on yourself? I have never
invested any money in my own plays, and really I...."
"My dear John, far be it from me to appear to cast the least slur--to
speak in the faintest way at all slightingly of your plays, but I do not
quite see the point of the comparison. Your plays--excellent as they
are, most excellent--are essentially commercial transactions. My play is
not a commercial transaction."
"Then why should I be invited to lose my money over it?"
Laurence smiled compassionately.
"I thought you would be glad of the opportunity to show a disinterested
appreciation of art. In years to come you will be proud to think that
you were one of the first to give practical evidence of your belief in
_Thomas_."
"But perhaps I'm just as skeptical as your hero was. I may not believe
in your play's immortality."
Laurence frowned.
"Come, my dear fellow, this is being petty. We are all counting on you.
You wouldn't like to hear it said that out of jealousy you had tried to
suppress a rival dramatist. But I must not let my indignation run away
with me, and you must forgive my heat. I am overstrained. The magnitude
of the subject has almost been too much for me. Besides, I should have
explained at once that I intended to invest in _Thomas_ all that is left
of my own little capital. Yes, I am even ready to do that. Then I shall
spend a year as an actor, after which I shall indulge my more worldly
self by writing a few frankly commercial plays before I begin my next
great tragedy entitled _Paul_."
John decided that his brother-in-law had gone mad; unable to think of
any action more effective at such a crisis, he rang the bell. But when
Maud came to inquire his need he could not devise anything to tell her
except that Mr. Armitage was staying to lunch.
It was a most uncomfortable meal, because Miss Hamilton in order to keep
herself from laughing aloud had to be preternaturally grave, and John
himself was in a continuous state of nervous irritation at Laurence, who
would let everything on his plate grow cold while he droned on without a
pause about the simplicity of the best art. It was more than tantalizing
to watch him gradually build up a mouthful upon his fork, still talking;
slowly raise it to his lips, still talking; and wave the overloaded fork
to and fro before him, still talking. But it was an agony to watch the
carefully accumulated mouthful drop back bit by bit upon his plate,
until at last very slowly and still talking he would insert one cold and
tiny morsel into his patient mouth, so tiny a morsel that the
mastication of it did not prevent him from still talking.
"I'm afraid you're not enjoying your lunch," his host said.
"Don't wait for me, my dear fellow; when I am interested in something
else I cannot gobble my food. Though in any case," he added in a
resigned voice, "I shall have indigestion. One cannot write plays like
_Thomas_ without exposing oneself to the ills that flesh is heir to."
After lunch, much to John's relief, his brother-in-law announced that he
had an appointment with Eleanor and would therefore be unable to stay
even long enough to smoke a cigar.
"Yes," he said. "Eleanor and I are going to interview one or two of her
theatrical friends. No doubt I shall soon be able to proclaim myself a
rogue and a vagabond. Yes, yes, poor Edith was quite distressed this
morning when I told her that jestingly. However, she will be happy to
hear to-night when I get back that her brother has been so large."
"Eh?"
"Not that Edith expected him to be otherwise. No, no, my dear fellow,
Edith has a most exalted opinion of you, which indeed I share, if I may
be permitted so to do. Good-by, John, and many thanks. Who knows? Our
little lunch may become a red-letter day in the calendar of English
dramatic art. Let me see, the tube-station is on the left as I go out?
Good-by, John; I wish I could stay the night with you, but I have a
cheap day-ticket which forbids any extension of my plans."
When John got back to the library he turned in bewilderment to his
secretary.
"Look here. I surely never gave him the least idea that I was going to
back his confounded play, did I?"
"On the contrary, you made it perfectly clear that you were not."
"I'm glad to hear you say so, because he has gone away from here
apparently under the delusion that I am. He'll brag about it to Eleanor
this afternoon, and before I know where I am she will be asking me to
set George up with a racing-stable."
Eleanor did not go as far as that, but she did write to John and point
out that the present seemed a suitable moment to deal with the question
of George's health by sending him on a voyage round the world. She added
that for herself she asked nothing; but John had an uneasy impression
that it was only in the belief that he who asks not to him shall it be
given.
"Take down two letters, please, Miss Hamilton," he said, grimly.
* * * * *
DEAR LAURENCE,--I am afraid that you went away yesterday afternoon under
a misapprehension. I do _not_ see my way to offer any financial
contribution toward the production of your play. I myself passed a long
apprenticeship before I was able to get one of my plays acted, and I do
not think that you can expect to do otherwise. Do not imagine that I am
casting any doubts upon the excellence of _Thomas_. If it is as good as
you claim, you will have your reward without any help from me. Your idea
of getting acquainted with the practical side of the stage is a good
one. If you are not already engaged in the autumn, I think I can offer
you one of the minor bishops in _Joan of Arc_.
Your affectionate brother-in-law,
JOHN TOUCHWOOD.
* * * * *
DEAR ELEANOR,--I must say decidedly that I do not perceive any
likelihood of George's health deriving much benefit from a voyage round
the world. If he is threatened with sleeping sickness, it would be rash
to expose him to a tropical climate. If he is suffering from a sluggish
liver, he will get no benefit from lolling about in smoking-saloons,
whatever the latitude and longitude. I have repeatedly helped George
with his schemes to earn a living for himself and he has never failed to
squander my money upon capricious race-horses. You know that I am always
willing to come forward on behalf of Bertram and Viola; but their father
must show signs of helping himself before I do anything more for him. I
am sorry that I cannot offer you a good part in _Joan of Arc_; there is
really nothing to suit you for I presume you would not care to accept
the part of Joan's mother. However, it has now been decided to produce
_Lucretia_ in April and I shall do my best to persuade Grohmann to
offer you a part in that.
Your affectionate brother-in-law,
JOHN TOUCHWOOD.
* * * * *
John did not receive an answer to either of these letters, and out of an
atmosphere of pained silence he managed to conjure optimistically an
idea that Laurence and Eleanor had realized the justice of his point of
view.
"You do agree with me that they were going too far?" he asked Miss
Hamilton; but she declined to express an opinion.
"What's the good of having a confidential secretary, if I can't ask her
advice about confidential matters?" he grumbled.
"Are you dissatisfied with me?"
"No, no, no. I'm not dissatisfied. What an exaggeration of my remark!
I'm simply a little puzzled by your attitude. It seems to me--I may be
wrong--that instead of ... well, at first you were always perfectly
ready to talk about my relations and about me, whereas now you won't
talk about anything except Joan of Arc. I'm really getting quite bored
with Joan of Arc."
"I was only an amateur when I began," she laughed. "Now I'm beginning to
be professional."
"I think it's a great mistake," said John, decidedly. "Suppose I insist
upon having your advice?"
"You'd find that dictation bears two meanings in English, to only one of
which are you entitled under the terms of our contract."
"Look here, have I done anything to offend you?" he asked, pathetically.
But she would not be moved and held her pencil so conspicuously ready
that the author was impaled upon it before he could escape and was soon
hard at work dictating his first arrangement of the final scene in a
kind of indignant absent-mindedness.
Soon after this John received a note from Sir Percy Mortimer, asking if
he could spare time to visit the great actor-manager some evening in the
course of the current week. Between nine-thirty and ten was indicated as
a suitable time, inasmuch as Sir Percy would then be in his
dressing-room gathering the necessary momentum to knock down all the
emotional fabric carefully built up in the first two acts by the most
cunning of contemporary dramatists. Sir Percy Mortimer, whose name was
once Albert Snell, could command anybody, so it ought not to have been
remarkable that John rather flustered by the invitation made haste to
obey. Yet, he must have been aware of an implied criticism in Miss
Hamilton's smile, which flashed across her still deep eyes like a sunny
wind, for he murmured, apologetically:
"We poor writers of plays must always wait upon our masters."
He tried to convey that Sir Percy was only a mortal like himself, but he
failed somehow to eliminate the deep-rooted respect, almost it might be
called awe of the actor that was perceptible under the assumed
carelessness of the author.
"You see, it may be that he is anxious to hear some of my plans for the
near future," he added.
If Sir Percy Mortimer was impressive in the smoking-room of the Garrick
Club as himself, he was dumbfounding in his dressing-room as Lord
Claridge, the ambassador, about to enter Princess Thingumabobski's salon
and with diplomatic wiles and smiles to settle the future of several
couples, incidentally secure for himself the heart and hand of a young
heiress. His evening-dress had achieved an immaculation that even Ouida
never dreamed of; he wore the Grand Cross of the Victorian Order with as
easy an assurance as his father had worn the insignia of a local
friendly society in Birmingham; he was the quintessential diplomat of
girlish dreams, and it was not surprising that women were ready to
remove even their hats to see him perform at matinees.
"Ah, it's very good of you to look me up, my dear fellow. I have just a
quarter-of-an-hour. Godfrey!" He turned to address his valet, who might
have been a cardinal driven by an ecclesiastical crisis like the spread
of Modernism into attendance upon an actor.
"Sir Percy?"
"I do not wish to be disturbed until I am called for the third act."
"Very good, Sir Percy."
"And Godfrey!"
"Sir Percy?"
"The whisky and soda for Mr. Touchwood. Oh, and Godfrey!"
"Sir Percy?"
"If the Duke of Shropshire comes behind, tell His Grace that I am
unavoidably prevented from seeing him until after the third act. I will
_not_ be interrupted."
"No, Sir Percy. I quite understand, Sir Percy."
The valet set the decanter at John's elbow and vanished like the ghost
of a king.
"It's just this, my dear fellow," the actor-manager began, when John who
had been trying to decide whether he should suggest Peter the Great or
Augustus the Strong as the next part for his host was inclining towards
Augustus. "It's just this. I believe that Miss Cartright, a former
member of my company, is _also_ a relation of yours."
"She is my sister-in-law," admitted John, swallowing both Peter and
Augustus in a disappointed gulp.
"In fact, I believe that in private life she is Mrs. George Touchwood.
Correct me if I am wrong in my names."
Sir Percy waited, but John did not avail himself of the offer, and he
went on.
"Well, my dear fellow, she has approached me upon a matter which I
confess I have found somewhat embarrassing, referring as it does to
another man's private affairs; but as one of the--as--how shall I
describe myself?--" He fingered the ribbon of the Victorian Order for
inspiration. "As an actor-manager of some standing, I felt that you
would prefer me to hear what she had to say in order that I might
thereby adjudicate--yes, I think that is the word--without any--no,
forgive me--adjudicate is _not_ the word. Adjudicate is too strong. What
is the word for outsiders of standing who are called in to assist at the
settlement of a trade dispute? Whatever the word is, that is the word I
want. I understand from Miss Cartright--Mrs. George Touchwood in private
life--that her husband is in a very grave state of health and entirely
without means." Sir Percy looked at himself in the glass and dabbed his
face with the powder-puff. "Miss Cartright asked me to use my influence
with you to take some steps to mitigate this unpleasant situation upon
which, it appears, people are beginning to comment rather unfavorably.
Now, you and I, my dear fellow, are members of the same club. You and I
have high positions in our respective professions. Is it wise? There may
of course be a thousand reasons for leaving your brother to starve with
an incurable disease. But is it wise? As a man of the world, I think
not." He touched his cheeks with the hare's-foot and gave them a richer
bloom. "Don't allow me to make any suggestion that even borders upon the
impertinent, but if you care to accept my mediation--_that_ is the word
I couldn't remember." In his enthusiasm Sir Percy smacked his leg, which
caused him a momentary anxiety for the perfection of his trousers.
"Mediation! Of course, that's it--if you care, as I say, to accept my
mediation I am willing to mediate."
John stared at the actor-manager in angry amazement. Then he let himself
go:
"My brother is not starving--he eats more than any human being I know.
Nor is he suffering from anything incurable except laziness. I do not
wish to discuss with you or anybody else the affairs of my relations,
which I regret to say are in most cases only too much my own affairs."
"Then there is nothing for me to do," Sir Percy sighed, deriving what
consolation he could from being unable to find a single detail of his
dress that could be improved.
"Nothing whatever," John agreed, emphatically.
"But what shall I say to Miss Cartright, who you _must_ remember is a
former member of my company, as well as your sister-in-law?"
"I leave that to you."
"It's very awkward," Sir Percy murmured. "I thought you would be sure to
see that it is always better to settle these unpleasant matters--out of
court, if I may use the expression. I'm so afraid that Miss Cartright
will air her grievance."
"She can wash as much dirty linen as she likes and air it every day in
your theater," said John, fiercely. "But my brother George shall _not_
go on a voyage round the world. You've nothing else to ask me? Nothing
about my plans for the near future?"
"No, no. I've a success, as you know, and I don't expect I shall want
another play for months. You've seen my performance, of course?"
"No," said John, curtly, "I've not."
And when he left the actor-manager's dressing-room he knew that he had
wounded him more deeply by that simple negative than by all the mighty
insults imaginable.
However, notwithstanding his successful revenge John left the theater in
a rage and went off to his club with the hope of finding a sympathetic
listener into whose ears he could pour the tale of Sir Percy's
megalomania; but by ill luck there was nobody suitable in the
smoking-room that night. To be sure, Sir Philip Cranbourne was snoring
in an armchair, and Sir Philip Cranbourne was perhaps a bigger man in
the profession than Sir Percy Mortimer. Yet, he was not so much bigger
but that he would have welcomed a tale against the younger theatrical
knight whose promotion to equal rank with himself he had resented very
much. Sir Philip, however, was fast asleep, and John doubted if he hated
Sir Percy sufficiently to welcome being woken up to hear a story against
him--particularly a story by a playwright, one of that miserable class
for which Sir Philip as an actor had naturally a very profound contempt.
Moreover, thinking the matter over, John came to the conclusion that
the story, while it would tell against Sir Percy would also tell against
himself, and he decided to say nothing about it. When he was leaving the
club he ran into Mr. Winnington-Carr, who greeted him airily.
"Evening, Touchwood!"
"Good evening."
"What's this I hear about Hugh going to Sierra Leone? Bit tough, isn't
it, sending him over to a plague spot like that? You saw that paragraph
in _The Penguin_? Things we should like to know, don't you know? Why
John Touchwood's brother is taking up a post in the tropics and whether
John himself is really sorry to see him go."
"No, I did not see that paragraph," said John, icily.
Next morning a bundle of press-cuttings arrived.
"There is nothing here but stupid gossip," said John to his secretary,
flinging the packet into the fire. "Nothing that is worth preserving in
the album, I mean to say."
Miss Hamilton smiled to herself.