Marion had sent a messenger down town after Brett, and the latter did
not lose a moment in answering the note in person. He was a little pale
as he entered.
"What is it?" he asked, almost before he had shaken hands.
"It is kind of you to come at once," answered Marion. "I asked you to
come about a matter of business. Sit down. I will explain."
"Can I be of any use?"
"Yes, I want some money, a great deal of money, in fact, and I want it
immediately."
"Are you going to buy a house?" he inquired in some surprise. "How much
do you want?"
"A hundred thousand dollars."
Brett did not answer at once. He looked at her rather anxiously, then
stared at the fire, then looked at her again.
"It is rather short notice for such an amount. But you have nearly as
much as that in bonds and mortgages."
"Yes, I know."
"Well then, there need not be any difficulty. What you have in bonds
you have already, to all intents and purposes. Do I understand that you
want this money in cash?"
"Yes," answered Mrs. Darche with decision, "in cash."
"I suppose a cheque will do as well?" suggested Brett with a smile.
"A cheque?" She repeated the word and seemed to hesitate. "I should
have to write my name on it, should I not?"
"Yes."
During the pause which followed, Marion seemed to be reviewing the
aspects of the transaction.
"The name of the person to whom I give it?" she asked at last, and she
seemed to avoid his glance.
"Yes," answered Brett, surprised at the inexperience betrayed by the
question, "unless you cashed it yourself and took the money in notes."
"No," said Mrs. Darche, as firmly as before. "I want the notes here,
please. What I want you to do, is to take enough bonds and get the
money for me. I do not care to know anything else about it, because I
shall not understand."
"I suppose I ought not to be inquisitive, my dear friend," replied
Brett after a little hesitation, "but I ought to tell you what you do
not seem to realise, that a hundred thousand dollars is a great deal of
money and that you ought not to keep such a sum in the house."
"I do not mean to keep it in the house. It is to be taken away
immediately."
"I see."
He concluded that the money was to be taken from the house by John
Darche, and he determined to prevent such a result if possible.
"May I ask one question?" he inquired.
"I will not promise to answer it." She still looked away from him.
"I hope you will. Do you mean to lend this money to some one? If it
were an ordinary payment you would certainly not want it in notes in
the house."
"How do you know?" asked Marion with some impatience.
"Because no human man of business with whom I have ever had anything to
do likes to trot about town with a hundred thousand dollars' worth of
notes in his pocket. And there is very little doubt in my mind about
what you mean to do with the money. You mean to give it to your
husband. Am I right?"
Mrs. Darche blushed a little and a shade of annoyance crossed her face.
"Why should I tell you what I am to do with it?" she asked.
"Because I am your legal adviser," answered Brett without hesitating,
"and I may give you some good advice."
"Thank you, I do not want any advice."
Another pause followed this declaration, which only seemed to confirm
the lawyer in his surmises.
"I will call it by another name," he said at last in a conciliatory
tone. "I will call it information. But it is information of a kind that
you do not expect. I should certainly not have said anything about it
if you had not sent for me on this business. Is it of any use to beg
you to reconsider the question of lending this money?"
"No, I have made up my mind."
"To lend it to your husband?"
"Dear Mr. Brett," said Marion, beginning to be impatient again, "I said
that I would rather not tell you."
"I fancy that I am not mistaken," Brett answered. "Now my dear friend,
you will be the last to know what every one has known for some time,
but it is time that you should know it. The affairs of the Company are
in a very bad state, so bad indeed, that an inquiry has been going on
into the management. I do not know the result of it yet, but I am very
much afraid that it will be bad, and that it will have very
disagreeable consequences for you all."
"Consequences?" repeated Mrs. Darche. "What consequences? Do you mean
that we shall lose money?"
"I mean that and I mean something more. It is very serious. Your
husband is deeply involved, and his father's name is so closely
associated with his in all the transactions that it seems almost
impossible to say which of the two is innocent."
"Innocent!" cried Marion, laying her hand suddenly upon the arm of her
chair and starting forward, then rising quickly to her feet and looking
down at him. "What do you mean? Why do you use that word?"
The expression had hardly escaped Brett's lips when he realised the
extent of his carelessness. He rose and stood beside her, feeling, as a
man does, that she had him at a disadvantage while he was seated and
she was standing.
"I beg your pardon," he said, "I should have been more careful. I
should have said which of the two is responsible for--"
"Something disgraceful?" interrupted Mrs. Darche whose excitement was
only increased by his hesitation. "For heaven's sake, do not keep me in
this suspense. Speak! Tell me! Be quick!"
"I should not have spoken at all except as your adviser," said Brett.
"Nothing definite is known yet, but something is wrong. As a purely
business transaction it is madness to lend money to John Darche. Can
you believe for a moment that the treasurer of such a Company, that the
men who control such a Company, would ask you to lend them a hundred
thousand dollars at a few hours' notice, if they were not on the very
verge of ruin?"
"No, but that is not what happened."
She stopped short and moved away from him a little, hesitating as to
what she should say next. It was impossible to describe to him the
scene which had taken place between her and her husband.
"I cannot tell you, and yet I want you to know," she said, at last.
"Do you not trust me?" said Brett, hoping to encourage her.
"Certainly. Trust you! Oh yes, I trust you with all my heart."
She turned and faced him again.
"Then tell me," said he. "Tell me what happened in as few words as
possible. Just the bare facts."
"It is the bare facts that are so hard to tell."
She turned away from him again feeling that if she allowed her eyes to
meet his she could not long withhold her confidence.
"I suppose your husband let you guess that there was trouble, so that
you made the offer spontaneously, and then he accepted it."
"Well--yes--no--almost."
Still she hesitated, standing by the writing-table, and idly turning
over the papers.
"I saw that he was worried and harassed and that something was wearing
upon him, and I did so want to help him! I thought it might--no I will
not say that."
"But it will not help matters to throw good money after bad," answered
Brett thoughtfully. "Believe me, there is no more chance of saving this
money you mean to give him, than all the other millions that have gone
through his hands--gone heaven knows where."
"Millions?"
There was surprise in her tone.
"I am afraid so," answered Brett, as though he had no reason in making
any correction in his estimate.
"You must tell me all you can, all you know," said Marion, turning to
him again.
"That would be a long affair," said Brett, "though I know a great deal
about it. But I do not know all, though the situation is simple enough
and bad enough. In spite of the large earnings of the Company, the
finances are in a rotten state and it is said that there are large sums
not accounted for. An inquiry has been going on for some time, and was,
I believe, closed last night, but the result will not be known until
this afternoon."
"What sort of an inquiry?" asked Mrs. Darche, anxiously.
"The regular examination of the books and of all the details which have
gone through the hands of your father-in-law and your husband."
"My father-in-law! Do you mean to say that they are trying to implicate
the old gentleman too?"
Marion's face expressed the utmost concern.
"As president of the Company, he cannot fail to be implicated."
"But he is no more responsible for what he does than a child!" cried
Mrs. Darche, in a tone of protestation.
"I know that, but he is nominally at the head of the administration.
That is all you need know. The rest is merely a mass of figures with
an account of tricks and manipulations which you could not understand."
"And what would happen if--if--"
She leaned towards him unconsciously, watching his lips to catch the
answer.
"I suppose that if the inquiry goes against them, legal steps will be
taken," said Brett.
"Legal steps? What legal steps?"
Brett hesitated, asking himself whether he should be justified in
telling her what he expected as well as what he knew.
"Well--" he continued at last, "you know in such cases the injured
parties appeal to the law. But it is of no use to talk about that until
you know the result of the inquiry."
"Do you mean, do you really mean that John may be arrested?" asked Mrs.
Darche, turning pale.
"At any moment."
Brett answered in a low voice. Almost as soon as he had spoken he left
her side and crossed the room as though not wishing to be a witness to
the effect the news must have upon her. Before his back was turned she
sank into a chair and covered her face with her hands. A long pause
followed. Marion was the first to speak.
"Mr. Brett--" she said, and stopped.
"Yes." He came back to her side at once.
"Can you not help me?" she asked earnestly.
"How can I?"
"Is there nothing, nothing that can be done?"
"The whole matter is already beyond my power, or yours, or any one's."
Marion looked steadily at him for several seconds and then turned her
face away, leaning against the mantelpiece.
"I am sure something can be done."
"No, nothing can be done."
He did not move, and spoke in a tone of the utmost decision.
"That is not true," said Marion turning upon him suddenly. "Money can
help him, and we are wasting time. Do not lose a moment! Take all I
have in the world and turn it into money and take it to him. Go! Do not
lose a moment! Go! Why do you wait? Why do you look at me so?"
"It would not be a drop in the bucket," answered Brett, still not
moving.
"All I have!"
"All you have."
"That is impossible," cried Mrs. Darche, incredulously. "I am not
enormously rich, but it is something. It is between four and five
hundred thousand dollars. Is it not? I have heard you say so."
"Something like that," assented Brett, as though the statement did not
alter the case.
Mrs. Darche came close to him, laid her hand upon his arm and gently
pushed him, as though urging him to leave her.
"Go! I say," she cried. "Take it. Do as I tell you. There may be time
yet. It may save them."
But Brett did not move.
"It is utterly useless," he said stolidly. "It is merely throwing money
out of the window. Millions could not stop the inquiry now, nor prevent
the law from taking its course if it is appealed to."
"You will not do it?" asked Marion with something almost like a menace
in her voice.
"No, I will not," said Brett, more warmly. "I will not let you ruin
yourself for nothing."
"Are you really my friend?"
She drew back a little and looked at him earnestly.
"Your friend? Yes--and more--more than that, far more than you can
dream of."
"Will you refuse, do you refuse, to do this for me?"
"Yes, I refuse."
"Then I will do it for myself," she said with a change of tone as
though she had suddenly come to a decision. "I will let my husband do
it for me. You cannot refuse to give me what is mine, what you have in
your keeping."
But Brett drew back and folded his arms.
"I can refuse and I do refuse," he said.
"But you cannot! You have no right."
Her voice was almost breaking.
"That makes no difference," Brett answered firmly. "I have the power. I
refuse to give you anything. You can bring an action against me for
robbing you, and you will win your case, but by that time it will be
too late. You may borrow money on your mere name, but your securities
and title-deeds are in my safe, and there they shall stay."
Marion looked at him one moment longer and then sank back into her
seat.
"You are cruel and unkind," she said in broken tones. "Oh, what shall I
do?"
Brett hesitated, not knowing exactly what to do, and not finding
anything especial to say. It is generally the privilege of man to be
the bearer of whatever bad news is in store for woman, but as yet no
hard and fast rule of conduct has been laid down for the unfortunate
messenger's action under the circumstances. Being at a loss for words
with which to console the woman he loved for the pain he had
unwillingly given her, Brett sat down opposite her and tried to take
her hand. She drew it away hastily.
"No, go away," she said almost under her breath. "Leave me alone. I
thought you were my friend."
"Indeed I am," protested Brett in a soothing tone.
"Indeed you are not."
Marion sat up suddenly and drew back to her end of the sofa.
"Do you call this friendship?" she asked almost bitterly. "To refuse to
help me at such a moment. Do you not see how I am suffering? Do you not
see what is at stake? My husband's reputation, his father's name, good
name, life perhaps--the shock of a disgrace would kill him--and for me,
everything! And you sit there and refuse to lift a finger to help
me--oh, it is too much! Indeed it is more than I can bear!"
"Of course you cannot understand it all now," said Brett, very much
distressed. "You cannot see that I am right, but you will see it soon,
too soon. You cannot save him. Why should you ruin yourself?"
"Why?"
"Is there some other reason," asked Brett, quickly. "Something that I
do not know?"
"All the reasons," she exclaimed passionately, "all the reasons there
ever were."
"Do you love him still?" asked Brett, scarcely knowing what he was
saying.
Marion drew still further back from him and spoke in an altered tone.
"Mr. Brett, you have no right to ask me such a question."
"No right? I? No, perhaps I have no right. But I take the right whether
it is mine or not. Because I love you still, as I have always loved
you, because there is nothing in heaven or earth I would not do for
you, because if you asked me for all I possessed at this moment, you
should have it, to do what you like with it--though you shall have
nothing of what is yours--because, to save you the least pain, I would
take John Darche's place and go to prison and be called a rascal and a
thief before all the world, for your sake, for your dear sake, Marion.
I love you. You know that I love you. Right or wrong--but it is right
and not wrong! There is not a man in the world who would do for any
woman the least of the things I would do for you."
Again he tried to take her hand, though she resisted and snatched it
from him after a little struggle.
"Leave me! leave me!" she cried despairingly. "Let me go!"
"Not until you know, not until you understand that every word I say
means ten thousand times more than it ever meant to any one, not until
you know that I love you through and through with every part of me,
with every thought and action of my life. Look at me! Look into my
eyes! Do you not see it there, the truth, the devotion? No? Is it so
long since I loved you and you said--you thought--you believed for one
little day that you loved me? Can you not remember it? Can you not
remember even the sound of the words? They were so sweet to hear! They
are so very sweet as they come back now--with all they mean now--but
could not mean then!"
"Harry!"
She could not resist pronouncing his name that once.
"I knew it! You loved me then. You love me now. What is the use of
fighting against it, when we love each other so? Marion! Love! Ah God!
At last!"
"Go!"
With a quick movement she sprang to her feet and stood back from him.
"Marion!"
But in a moment it was past. With a gesture she kept him at arm's
length.
"Is that your friendship?" she asked reproachfully.
"No, it is love," he answered almost roughly. "There is no friendship
in it."
"And you talk of helping me!" she cried. "And at such a time as this,
when I am weak, unstrung, you force it all upon me, and drag out what I
have hidden so long. No, no! You do not love me. Go!"
"Not love you!" Again he tried to get near her. "God in heaven! Do not
hurt me so!"
"No," she answered, still thrusting him back. "If you loved me you
would help me, you would respect me, you would honour me, you would not
try to drag me down."
"Drag you down! Ah, Marion!"
He spoke very unsteadily, then turning his face from her he leaned upon
the mantelpiece and watched the fire. A long pause followed. After
awhile he looked up again and their eyes met.
"Harry!" said Mrs. Darche quietly.
"Yes," he answered.
"Come and sit beside me on that chair."
Brett obeyed.
"We must forget this morning," said Marion in her natural tone of
voice. "We must say to ourselves that all this has never happened and
we must believe it. Will you?"
"You ask too much," answered Brett looking away. "I cannot forget that
I have said it--at last, after all these years."
"You must forget it. You must--must--for my sake."
"For your sake?" Still he looked away from her.
"Yes, for my sake," she repeated. "If you cannot forget, I can never
look any one in the face again. Look at me, please," she said, laying
her hand upon his arm. "Look into my eyes and tell me that you will not
remember."
"For your sake I will try not to remember," he said slowly. "But I
cannot promise yet," he added with sudden passion. "Oh no!"
"You will do your best. I know you will," said Marion, in a tone that
was meant to express conviction. "Now go. And remember that I have
forgotten."
"You are very kind," Brett answered with more humility than she had
expected. "You are very good to me. I was mad for a moment. Forgive me.
Try to forgive me."
"There is nothing to forgive, for I remember nothing," said Marion with
a faint smile.
"Good-bye, then." He turned to go.
"Good-bye," she answered quite naturally.
"Now come back, please," she said, when he had almost reached the door.
"You are Mr. Brett now, and I am Mrs. Darche. I am in great trouble and
you are my friend, and you must help me as well as you can."
"In any way I can," he answered, coming back to her. "But I will help
only you, I will not help any one else."
"Not even old Mr. Darche?"
"Yes, I do not mean to except him."
"That is right. And we must act quickly. We must decide what is to be
done. We have," she hesitated, "we have lost time--at any moment it may
be too late."
"It is too late now," Brett answered in a sudden change of tone, as
Stubbs the butler suddenly entered the room.
"Please madam," said Stubbs, who was pale and evidently very much
disturbed, "there are some strange gentlemen to see Mr. John Darche,
and when I told them that he was out, they said they would see old Mr.
Darche, and I said that old Mr. Darche was ill and could see no one,
and they said they must see him; and they are coming upstairs without
leave, and here they are, madam, and I cannot keep them out!"