THE MILLIONNAIRE.
When Mr. May woke next morning, it was not the book-case he thought of,
but that date which had been the last thing in his mind on the previous
night. Not the 15th,--the 18th. Certainly he was right, and Cotsdean was
wrong. Cotsdean was a puzzle-headed being, making his calculations by
the rule of thumb; but he had put down the date, and there could be no
possible mistake about it. He got up disposed to smile at the poor man's
ignorance and fussy restlessness of mind. "I have never left him in the
lurch, he may trust to me surely in the future," Mr. May said to
himself, and smiled with a kind of condescending pity for his poor
agent's timidity; after all, perhaps, as Cotsdean had so little profit
by it, it was not wonderful that he should be uneasy. After this, it
might be well if they did anything further of the sort, to divide the
money, so that Cotsdean too might feel that he had got something for the
risk he ran; but then, to be sure, if he had not the money he had no
trouble, except by his own foolish anxiety, for the payment, and always
a five-pound note or two for his pains. But Mr. May said to himself that
he would do no more in this way after the present bill was disposed of;
no, he would make a stand, he would insist upon living within his
income. He would not allow himself to be subject to these perpetual
agitations any more. It would require an effort, but after the effort
was made all would be easy. So he said to himself; and it was the 18th,
not the 15th, three days more to make his arrangements in. It had come
to be the 12th now, and up to this moment he had done nothing, having
that vague faith in the Indian mail which had been realized, and yet had
not been realized. But still he had nearly a week before him, which was
enough certainly. Anything that he could do in six months, he said to
himself, he could easily do in six days--the mere time was nothing; and
he smiled as he dressed himself leisurely, thinking it all over. Somehow
everything looked perfectly easy to him this time; last time he had been
plunged into tragic despair; now, and he did not know why, he took it
quite easily; he seemed to fear nothing. There were various ways of
getting the money as natural as the daylight, and in the mean time why
should he make himself unhappy? As soon as he was ready he went to his
room and had another look at the book-case which, with his best books in
it, all in order and ranged in unbroken lines, looked everything a
book-case ought to look. It made him feel more of a man somehow, more
like the gentleman and scholar he had meant to be when he started in
life; he had not intended then to be a poor district incumbent all his
life, with a family of eight children. His book-case somehow transported
him back to the days when he had thought of better things for himself,
and when life had held an ideal for him. Perhaps at the best of times it
had never been a very high ideal; but when a man is over fifty and has
given up doing anything but struggle through each day as it comes, and
get out of his work as best he may, doing what he must, leaving undone
what he can, any ideal almost seems something higher than himself; but
the recollection of what he had meant to be, came back to him strongly
when he looked at his carved oak. It had not been carried out; but still
he felt rehabilitated and better in his own opinion as he stood beside
this costly purchase he had made, and felt that it changed his room and
all his surroundings. It might have been almost wicked to run into such
an extravagance, but yet it did him good.
"My people came down to the Hall last night," Clarence Copperhead said
to him at breakfast, "and the Governor is coming over along with Sir
Robert. He'd like to see you, I am sure, and I suppose they'll be going
in for sight-seeing, and that sort of thing. He is a dab at
sight-seeing, is the Governor. I can't think how he can stand it for my
part."
"Then you must remember that I put myself at his orders for the day,"
said Mr. May graciously. "Sir Robert is not a bad guide, but I am a
better, though it sounds modest to say it; and, Ursula, of course Mr.
Copperhead will take luncheon with us."
"Don't think of that," said Clarence, "he's queer and likes his own way.
Just as likely as not he'll think he ought to support the hotels of the
place where he is--sort of local production, you know. I think it's
nonsense, but that is how it is--that's the man."
"We shall look for him all the same," said Mr. May, with a nod at
Ursula; and a sudden project sprang up in his mind, wild as projects so
often are. This father whom his fancy, working upon what Clarence said,
immediately invested with all the prodigal liberality of a typical rich
man; this stranger to whom a hundred pounds was less then a penny was to
himself, would give him the money he wanted. What so easy? He drew a
long breath, and though he had not been aware that he was anxious, he
was suddenly conscious of a sense of relief. Yes, to be sure, what so
simple, what so likely? he would explain his monetary necessities
lightly and with grace, and Mr. Copperhead would supply them. He was in
the mildest state of desperation, the painless stage, as may be seen,
when this strange idea entered into his head. He hugged it, though he
was a man of the world and might have known better, and it produced a
kind of elation which would have been a very strange spectacle to any
looker-on who knew what it meant. The thing seemed done when he next
thought of it ten minutes later, settled as if it had been so for years.
Mr. Copperhead would make it all right for him, and after that he would
undertake such risks no more.
Mr. Copperhead, however, did not come for two days, though Ursula spent
all the morning and a great deal of trouble in arranging a luncheon for
him; but on the second morning he came, driven by Sir Robert, who had
changed horses on the road, and who was in a somewhat irritated and
excited condition, very glad to get rid of his visitor.
"I hope you don't mind having your toes trodden on, May," he said,
privately; "that fellow is never happy but when he's insulting some
one." And indeed Mr. Copperhead began this favourite pastime at once by
making very big eyes at the sight of Ursula. "A-ha!" he said, rubbing
his hands, and elevating his eyebrows; and he gave a meaning laugh as he
shook hands with her, and declared that he did not expect to find young
ladies here. "I haven't a great deal of education myself, and I never
knew it could be carried on so pleasantly," he said. "You're a lucky
young dog, Clar, that's what you are;" and the son laughed with the
father at this excellent joke, though the rest of the company looked on
with great gravity. Ursula, for her part, turned with wondering eyes
from the new-comer to her old friend, Sir Robert.
"What does he mean?" she asked, with an appealing look.
"He is the greatest brute I know," said poor Sir Robert, under his
breath; and he went off suddenly on the plea of business, leaving his
unpleasant visitor in Mr. May's hands, who undertook the charge not
unwillingly, being possessed by his own plan. Mr. Copperhead went all
over Carlingford. He inspected the town-hall, the infirmary, and the
church, with the business-like air of a man who was doing his duty.
"Poor little place, but well enough for the country," he said. "A
country-town's a mistake in my opinion. If I had it in my power I'd raze
them all to the ground, and have one London and the rest green fields.
That's your sort, Mr. May. Now you don't produce anything here, what's
the good of you? All unproductive communities, sir, ought to be swept
off the face of the earth. I'd let Manchester and those sort of places
go on till they burst; but a bit of a little piggery like this, where
there's nothing doing, no trade, no productions of any kind."
"We like it all the same," said Mr. May; "we small sort of people who
have no enterprise like you--"
"I dare say you like it! To be sure, you can moon about here as much as
you please, and make believe to do something, and there's nobody to
contradict you. In a great centre of industry you couldn't live like
that; you must work or you'll get pushed aside altogether; unless, of
course, you're a millionnaire to start with," Mr. Copperhead added, with
a noisy laugh.
"Which I am not certainly--very much the reverse--in short, a poor man
with a large family, which I suppose is a thing about as objectionable
in a centre of industry as anything can be."
"The large family ain't objectionable if you make 'em work," said Mr.
Copperhead; "it all depends on that. There's always objections, you
know," he said, with a jocular grin, "to pretty girls like that daughter
of yours put straight in a young fellow's way. You won't mind my saying
it? They neither work themselves nor let others work--that sort. I think
we could get on with a deal fewer women, I must allow. There's where
Providence is in a mistake. We don't want 'em in England; it's a waste
of raw material. They're bad for the men, and they ain't much good for
themselves, that I can see."
"You are a little hard upon the ladies, Mr. Copperhead."
"Not I--we can't do without 'em of course, and the surplus we ought to
export as we export other surpluses; but I object to them in a young
man's way, not meaning anything unpleasant to you. And perhaps if I had
been put up to it sooner--but let's hope there's no mischief done. What
is this now? some of your antiquities, I suppose. Oh yes, let's have a
look at it; but I confess it's the present age I like best."
"This is the College," cried Mr. May, swallowing certain sensations
which impaired his sense of friendliness; "but not an educational
college, a foundation for old men--decayed citizens, as they are
called--founded in the fifteenth century. My son is the chaplain, and
will be very glad to show it you. There are twelve old men here at
present, very comfortably looked after, thanks to the liberal
arrangements of the founder. They attend chapel twice a day, where
Reginald officiates. It is very agreeable to me to have him settled so
near me."
"Cunning I call it," said Mr. Copperhead, with his hoarse laugh; "does
you credit; a capital snug nest--nothing to do--and pay--pay good now?
those old fellows generally managed that; as it was priests that had the
doing of it, of course they did well for their own kind. Good Lord, what
a waste of good money all this is!" he continued, as they went into the
quadrangle, and saw the little park beyond with its few fine trees;
"half-a-dozen nice villas might be built on this site, and it's just the
sort of place I should fancy where villas would pay. Why don't the
Corporation lay hands on it? And your son lives here? Too dull for me; I
like a little movement going on, but I dare say he likes it; and with
how much a year?"
"Two hundred and fifty; and some advantages beside--"
"Bravo!" said Mr. Copperhead, "now how many curates could you get for
that two and a-half? I've got a great respect for you, Mr. May; you know
what's what. That shows sense, that does. How do you do, sir? fine old
place you've got here--capital snug appointment. I've just been saying
to your father I admire his sense, looking out for you a nice fat easy
appointment like this."
Reginald turned from red to white, and then to portentous blackness. The
subject was of all others the one least likely to please him.
"It is not very fat," he said, with a look of offence, quite undeserved
by the chief sufferer, towards his father, "nor very easy. But come in.
It is rather an interesting old place. I suppose you would like to see
the Chapel, and the old captain's rooms; they are very fine in their
way."
"Thank you; we've been seeing a deal already, and I feel tired. I think
I'll--let you off the chapel. Hallo! here's another old
friend--Northcote, by George! and what are _you_ doing here I should
like to know, a blazing young screamer of the Liberation Society, in a
high and dry parson's rooms? This is as good as a play."
"I suppose one is not required to stay at exactly the same point of
opinion all one's life," said Northcote, with a half-smile.
"By George! but you are though, when you're a public man; especially
when you're on a crusade. Haven't I heard you call it a crusade? I can
tell you that changing your opinion is just the very last thing the
public will permit you to do. But I shan't tell for my part--make
yourself easy. Clarence, don't you let it out; your mother, fortunately,
is out of the way. The world shall never know through me that young
Northcote, the anti-state Churchman, was discovered hob-nobbing with a
snug chaplain in a sinecure appointment. Ha, ha! had you there."
"To do Northcote justice," said Mr. May; "he began life in Carlingford
by pointing out this fact to the neighbourhood; that it was a sinecure,
and that my son and I--"
"Would it not be more to the point to inspect the chapel?" said
Reginald, who had been standing by impatiently playing with a big key;
upon which Mr. Copperhead laughed more loudly than before.
"We'll not trouble the chapel," he said, "railway stations are more in
my way; you are all a great deal finer than I am, and know a deal more,
I suppose; but my roughness has served its purpose on the whole, better
perhaps for some things--yes, for some things, Clar, and you may thank
your stars, old boy. If you had been a parson's son, by George! there
would have been no fat appointment waiting for you."
"After all, my son's appointment is not so very fat," said Mr. May,
forcing a laugh. "It is not so much as many a boy at school gets from
his father."
"Ah, you mean my boy at school! he's an extravagant dog. His mother and
he, sir, are made of different clay from me; they are porcelain and I am
delft. They want fine velvet cupboards to stand themselves in, while I'm
for the kitchen dresser. That's the difference. But I can afford it,
thank Heaven. I tell Clarence that he may thank his stars that I can
afford it, and that he isn't born a poor man's son. He has been plucked
at Oxford, you know," he said, with a big laugh, thrusting forth his
chest as Clarence thrust forth his shirt-front, with an apparent
complacency over the very plucking. My son can afford to be plucked, he
seemed to say. He got up as he spoke, and approaching the fireplace
turned his back to it, and gathered up his coat-tails under his arm. He
was no taller than Mr. May, and very little taller than Reginald; but
they both shrank into insignificance beside the big self-assertive
figure. He looked about the room as if he was thinking of "buying up"
the whole contents of it, and thought very little of them. A glance of
contempt, a shrug more implied than actual, testified his low opinion of
everything around. When he withdrew his eyes from the furniture he shook
out his leg, as Clarence had done his, and gave a pull to his trousers
that they might sit properly. He had the word "Rich" painted in big
letters all over him, and he seemed to feel it his vocation to show this
sense of superiority. Clarence by his side, the living copy of the great
man's appearance and manners, strutted and put himself forward like his
father, as a big calf might place itself beside the parent cow. Mr.
Copperhead did not look upon his offspring, however, with the cow's
motherly complacency. He laughed at him openly, with cynical amusement.
He was clever in his way, and Clarence was stupid; and besides he was
the proprietor, and Clarence, for all he was porcelain, was his goods
and chattels. When he looked at him, a wicked leer of derision awoke in
his eye.
"Yes, my boy," he said, "thank your stars; you would not make much of it
if you were a poor man. You're an ornament that costs dear; but I can
afford you. So, Northcote, you're changing your opinions--going over to
the Church, eh? Extremes meet, they say; I shouldn't have thought it--"
"I am doing nothing of the kind," said Northcote stoutly. He was not in
a mood to be taken to task by this Mammon of unrighteousness, and indeed
had at all times been a great deal too independent and unwilling to
submit to leading members of the connection. Mr. Copperhead, however,
showed no resentment. Northcote too, like Clarence, had a father before
him, and stood on quite a different footing from the ordinary young
pastor, whose business it was to be humble and accept all that his
betters might portion out.
"Well," he said, "you can afford to please yourself, and that's always
something. By the way, isn't it time to have something to eat? If there
is a good hotel near--"
"Luncheon will be waiting at my house," said Mr. May, who was still
doing his best to please the man upon whom he had built such wild hopes,
"and Ursula will be waiting."
"Ah, ah, the young lady! so she will. I wouldn't miss that for
something; but I don't like putting you to so much expense. My son here
has an excellent appetite, as you must have found out by this time, and
for my part so have I. I think it a thousand pities to put you to this
trouble--and expense."
"Pray don't think of that," said Mr. May with courtesy, which belied his
feelings, for he would have liked nothing so well as to have knocked
down his complacent patron. He led the way out, almost with eagerness,
feeling Mr. Copperhead to be less offensive out of doors than within
four walls. Was this the sort of man to be appealed to for help as he
had thought? Probably his very arrogance would make him more disposed
towards liberality. Probably it would flatter his sense of consequence,
to have such a request made to him. Mr. May was very much at sea,
letting I dare not wait upon I would; afraid to speak lest he should
shut this door of help by so doing, and afraid to lose the chance of any
succour by not speaking. He tried hard, in spite of all his
difficulties, to be smooth and agreeable to a man who had so much in his
power; but it was harder work than he could have thought.