SATISFACTION--DISSATISFACTION--AND A CONTEMPLATED ARRIVAL.
First thing next morning Murkard went off to the township. He was gone
about an hour, and during that time Ellison seemed to live a lifetime.
Fearing that his face might frighten his wife, he found work for himself
in the store and among the boats. Everything seemed to conspire to
remind him of his position, and every few moments the inevitable result
would rise before him in a new light and fairly take his breath away.
Times out of number his patience got the better of him, and he went down
to the shore to see if there were any sign of the boat's return. When at
last he did make it out, his heart seemed first to stand still and then
to throb until it felt as if it would burst his chest asunder. Nearer
and nearer came the white sail, gleaming like a flake of ivory on the
warm sunlit sea. When she drew alongside the jetty one glimpse of
Murkard's face told him that the errand had been satisfactorily
accomplished. He waited for him to beach the boat, and then they set
off together for the store.
"Well," asked Ellison anxiously, as soon as they were inside and had
shut the door, "how have you succeeded?"
"Admirably, so far. I have dispatched the cablegram, and by this time
to-morrow we shall know our fate."
"But what proof have you that they will believe your tale?"
"The Government Resident's word. He has guaranteed the truth of my
statement."
Not another syllable did Ellison utter. His lips moved, but no sound
came from them. Then suddenly, with a little cry, he stretched out his
arms towards the counter as if to sustain himself, and missing that,
fell prone in a dead faint upon the floor.
In a minute or two Murkard had brought him back to consciousness.
"What on earth's the matter with you, Ellison?" he cried. "You're surely
not going to give way now that the business is accomplished?"
"I don't know," the other replied shamefacedly, as soon as he was
sufficiently recovered to talk. "I suppose the anxiety has been too much
for me. My wife must know nothing of this, remember."
"Trust me. And now I shall advise you to keep very quiet until the
answer comes. There is nothing to be gained by knocking yourself up, and
everything, whichever way you look at it, by being calm."
"But, Murkard, for the life of me I don't understand how you managed it.
No family in the world would advance such a sum without full and strict
inquiry."
"Can you trust me, Ellison?"
"Implicitly--but----"
"There must be no 'buts,' I have taken the matter in hand. The
Government Resident, who believes in me, strangely enough, has
guaranteed the authenticity of what I have said. I have put the matter
clearly before your family, and I leave it to their sense of justice to
do what we ask. Remember if, as I said last night, there is any blame to
be incurred by anyone, I take it."
"Murkard, I am not fit to look you in the face. I am a cur of the worst
kind."
"Hush! hush! you mustn't say such things of yourself."
"But I mean it! I mean every word I say! I am not fit to----"
"Whatever you are, Cuthbert, I don't want to know it. I have told you
before, and I tell you again, our destinies, yours and mine, are one.
Come what may, I _must_ help you."
"You have been the truest friend that mortal man ever had."
"And I shall continue to be until the day of my death. Whatever you may
do, right or wrong, I shall stand by you. Never doubt that."
"Silas, I have a good mind to make a clean breast of everything to you."
"No, no! Don't tell me anything. I would rather not hear. All I want to
know, I know. The rest lies outside the pale, and is no concern of
mine."
"But it _does_ concern you. It concerns you very vitally, more vitally
than you think."
"Then I refuse to hear it. If you attempt to make me, I shall be
compelled to leave the place, to go away from the island."
"You are very obstinate."
"No, old friend. It is only kindness to you and your wife that makes me
do it. Now I must get to my books. If this money is to arrive, we must
be prepared for it. I see a golden future ahead of us."
Ellison passed out of the door saying to himself, "And I only ruin and
disgrace."
He spent the rest of that day as one in a dream. He went about his work
unconsciously, a great fear hanging over him like a suspended sword.
Again and again he argued the case with himself. In a moment of sudden
mental aberration--vanity, perhaps, at any rate, he could hardly say
what--he had represented himself to be someone he was not. He had
intended to leave the place next day; he had no intention or wish to
deceive for any criminal or base purpose of his own. He had simply
craved the girl's interest and sympathy, and then the deed was done.
What could he do now? As he had told himself last night, if he went to
his wife and confessed everything, she would loathe and despise him for
the rest of his existence. He would be a detected liar and cheat without
excuse of any kind. Now that Murkard had taken this course, the same
inevitable result would ensue, only increased by the fact that his crime
would be known to the whole world, and he would suffer the penalty,
thereby bringing ruin and disgrace unspeakable upon those who loved him
best. But, on the other hand, his wife had to be saved, and he had done
it with his eyes open. It was too late to draw back now, and the blow
might fall at any time. Yet, come what might, he could not tell Esther
while she was in this critical condition. Small wonder, then, that he
hung his head and looked as if all joy had passed out of his existence
forever.
Next morning Murkard again set off for the township. In an hour he
returned jubilant. Ellison saw his boat approach, from the store
veranda, and hastened down to meet him, his heart beating wildly.
Murkard waved to him from the boat.
"It is done!" he cried, as he stepped ashore, his usually pale face
aglow with excitement. "The cable arrived last night! A thousand pounds
is placed to your credit in the bank. The rest will follow in a month.
Good Heaven, Cuthbert, what is the matter?"
Ellison had thrown himself upon the sand, and was sobbing like a little
child.
"Poor old chap!" said Murkard, seating himself beside him. "You're
overwrought. The waiting has been too much for you. Never mind, now we
are safe. The money is here, our credit is restored. Shell has gone up
in the London market, and now we'll begin to make up for lost time.
Come, come, you mustn't behave like this. Supposing any of the hands
should see you?"
"It must all be repaid," Ellison answered almost fiercely, as soon as he
recovered his composure, "every penny of it! I shall never rest until I
have done that. Tell me everything, from first to last. Don't hide a
word or detail from me. I must know everything!"
"You will know nothing more than I have already told you. Cuthbert, you
must trust me. You have known me a long time now. Is your trust in my
fidelity strong enough to convince you that I would do nothing that
could bring you to any harm?"
"I am sure of that. But it is not enough to satisfy my fears for myself.
I am making myself responsible for all this money. I must know exactly
how you obtained it from--from my people, and on what terms. I _must_
know it!"
"I got it from them on the plea that you had settled down to a
respectable, honest, reputable business out here. That you had married a
quiet, ladylike girl. That times were bad, and unless you could raise
the amount of money asked for, you would be thrown upon the world again,
and all your good resolutions scattered to the winds. The Government
Resident and Blake the banker corroborated my assertions, and I made
myself a surety, a poor one perhaps, but still a surety for the amount.
Your father, the duke, cabled through his bankers to Blake that you
might draw on him to the extent of one thousand pounds, and that the
rest of the money would be dispatched during the present week. I have
the papers for the one thousand pounds in my pocket now. You must sign
them. In the meantime I have taken the liberty of cabling your thanks
home."
"It was to save her--only to save her. Whatever happens, remember that!"
"What do you mean? You look as glum as a man about to be hanged. Come,
come, Cuthbert, put a happier face on it, if only out of compliment to
me. You are saved now! You can improve your business; you can send out
more boats and do what you have been hankering after for a long time
now, establish a floating station for your fleet."
"Yes, yes; we can certainly do more. But at what a cost?"
"My dear fellow, the cost will be nothing to the gains. Besides, you can
always repay."
"I was not thinking of that cost. You don't know what an awful business
this has been to me. The agony I have been through these past two days
has made me an old man."
"Eating humble-pie, you mean? I can understand your feelings. But still
it's done now, and what is better, well done. Now come to the store with
me and sign those papers."
They went up the hill together, and with a trembling hand Ellison
signed what was asked of him. This done, he tottered rather than walked
out of the store towards his own abode. He went into the dining room and
filled himself half a tumbler of whiskey, which he drank almost neat.
The spirit pulled him together, and he departed in search of his wife.
By the time he found her the liquor had begun to take effect. He became
almost excited. She was sewing in the shade of the back veranda. He
seated himself beside her, and with his left hand smoothed her soft
brown hair.
"Little woman," he said, "I have great news for you. The happiest of
happy news. We are saved; the overdraft will be paid off, and we are in
smooth water again. In other words, the money has arrived."
"From your father, Cuthbert? Oh, you don't mean that?"
"But I do. The good Murkard was worked it admirably. A cablegram arrived
this morning authorising me to draw on him for a thousand pounds. A
draft for four thousand more will leave London this week."
"Thank God for his mercy! Oh, Cuthbert, what can I say to show you how
pleased I am? And you deserve it too, you poor, hard-working boy. Your
face has been so long and solemn lately that I have been more than
anxious about you."
"You need not be so any longer then, my sweet. The crisis is past. Now
we will begin to put the money to practical use. I have all sorts of
schemes in my mind. Dearie, you must say something nice to Murkard about
it. For it is his cleverness that has brought it all about."
"You are very generous to that man, my husband."
"And I fear, forgive my saying so, that you are not generous enough to
him. That man, as you call him would cut off his own right hand if he
thought that by so doing he could help me."
"I know it, and perhaps that is why I am a little jealous of him. I am
selfish enough to think I should like to be the only person in the whole
world who could do anything for you."
"You are part of myself, little wife. It is for your sake I work. It was
for your sake I----"
"What? What else have you done for my sake that you suddenly look so
glum about it?"
He sank his voice almost to a whisper, when he replied:
"For your sake I have done in this business what I have done. Whatever
comes of it, never lose sight of that. It is the only bright spot in
the whole miserable affair."
"I shall never forget that; you need not be afraid of it."
He stroked her hair for a moment, and then once more went down the
garden path towards the store. Murkard was not there. On inquiring of
the Kanakas, he discovered that he had gone across to the settlement in
his boat.
In order to have something to distract his thoughts Ellison went down to
the carpenter's shed, and set to work upon some business he had long
neglected. It was a relief to him to have something to do, and he
derived a peculiar peace from the chirrup of the plane, and a
restfulness from the trailing shavings that had been a stranger to him
for longer than he cared to remember. As he worked his thoughts took in
all that had happened to him since his arrival in the settlement. He
remembered that first night in the Hotel of All Nations; the fight and
his curious resolve upon the hill-side; his search for work the
following morning--their swim across the strait, and his first
introduction to the girl who was now his wife. The death of her father
came next; then their marriage; the difficulties and disasters of their
business, and----But here his recollections came to an abrupt halt. He
did not dare think of what had followed after. Oh, how bitterly he
cursed himself for that one false step, and to the cowardice to which it
had given birth! If only he had had the moral courage to own himself a
liar at once, what awful after misery he might have saved himself. But,
no! it was not to be--not to be. The saddest of all sad words--not to
be. Now even if he managed to repay every farthing, there would always
be the remembrance of his sin to haunt him. He put down the tools he was
using, and turned to look across the straits. The afternoon's sun was
hardly a hand's breadth above the horizon. A little fleet of luggers was
tacking down, under a light breeze, towards the anchorage, their white
sails gleaming picturesquely in the warm sunlight. The ripple of the
waves on the beach came up to him like softest music, and he was just
thinking how fair it all was when he heard footsteps hurrying on the
hard-beaten path outside. Next moment old Mrs. Fenwick stood before him,
hardly able to speak with excitement. In a flash Ellison divined her
errand. Seizing her by the arm, he shook her almost savagely.
"What is it? What do you want? Is he wanted? Quick, quick!"
She nodded emphatically, unable to find breath to speak.
"Out of my way! I will go at once!"
He picked up his hat, dashed through the door and down the path towards
the jetty. A boat lay moored alongside a lugger. He sprang into it, had
cast her loose, and was sculling madly in the direction of the township
before Mrs. Fenwick had time to wonder what had become of him. In a
quarter of an hour he was ringing the medico's bell, and in half an hour
they were back together at the station. As they approached the house the
doctor stopped and looked at his companion.
"My friend," said he, "if I were you I should go for a long walk or a
row. Don't come back for at least two hours. You can do nothing here,
and you will only be in the way. If you stay I shall have you on my
hands next."
Ellison looked at him as if he would like to argue the point with him.
"Man, man!" he said viciously, "you don't know the state I'm in. If
anything happens to that woman it will kill me."
"I know, I know! I've had the same feeling myself. It's very
commendable--very. But----"
"Oh, d---- your sentimental twaddle! No! no! Forgive my rudeness, you
can see I'm not myself at all."
"That's why I order you to go for a row. Now be off, and don't let me
see your face again for hours. Your wife will be quite safe in my
hands."
"God grant she may be!"
He picked his hat up from where it had fallen, and without another
protest walked back to the shore. Again he embarked aboard his boat, and
once more he set sail, this time down the Pass in the opposite
direction, and out into the open sea.