"How green are you and fresh in this old world!"
On the morning of the garden party Joseph Jagenal called on Lawrence
Colquhoun.
"I have two or three things to say," he began, "if you can give me
five minutes."
"Twenty," said Lawrence. "Now then."
He threw himself back in his easiest chair and prepared to listen.
"I am in the way of hearing things sometimes," Joseph said. "And I
heard a good deal yesterday about Mr. Gabriel Cassilis."
"What?" said Lawrence, aghast, "he surely has not been telling all the
world about it!"
"I think we are talking of different things," Joseph answered after a
pause. "Don't tell me what you mean, but what I mean is that there is
an uneasy feeling about Gabriel Cassilis."
"Ay? In what way?"
"Well, they say he is strange; does not see people; does not open
letters; and is evidently suffering from some mental distress."
"Yes."
"And when such a man as Gabriel Cassilis is in mental distress, money
is at the bottom of it."
"Generally. Not always."
"It was against my advice that you invested any of your money by his
direction."
"I invested the whole of it; and all Phillis's too. Mr. Cassilis has
the investment of our little all," Lawrence added, laughing.
But the lawyer looked grave.
"Don't do it," he said; "get it in your own hands again; let it lie
safely in the three per cents. What has a pigeon like you to do among
the City hawks? And Miss Fleming's money, too. Let it be put away
safely, and give her what she wants, a modest and sufficient income
without risk."
"I believe you are right, Jagenal. In fact, I am sure you are right.
But Cassilis would have it. He talked me into an ambition for good
investments which I never felt before. I will ask him to sell out for
me, and go back to the old three per cents. and railway shares--which
is what I have been brought up to. On the other hand, you are quite
wrong about his mental distress. That is--I happen to know--you are a
lawyer and will not talk--it is not due to money matters; and Gabriel
Cassilis is, for what I know, as keen a hand as ever at piling up the
dollars. The money is all safe; of that I am quite certain."
"Well, if you think so--But don't let him keep it," said Joseph the
Doubter.
"After all, why not get eight and nine per cent. if you can?"
"Because it isn't safe, and because you ought not to expect it. What
do you want with more money than you have got? However, I have told
you what men say. There is another thing. I am sorry to say that my
brothers have made fools of themselves, and I am come to apologise for
them."
"Don't if it is disagreeable, my dear fellow."
"It is not very disagreeable, and I would rather. They are fifty, but
they are not wise. In fact, they have lived so much out of the world
that they do not understand things. And so they went down and proposed
for the hand of your ward, Phillis Fleming."
"Oh! Both of them? And did she accept?"
"The absurd thing is that I cannot discover which of them wished to be
the bridegroom, nor which Phillis thought it was. She is quite
confused about the whole matter. However, they went away and thought
one of them was accepted, which explains a great deal of innuendo and
reference to some unknown subject of mirth which I have observed
lately. I say one of them, because I find it impossible to ascertain
which of them was the man. Well, whether they were conscience-stricken
or whether they repented, I do not know, but they went back to
Twickenham and solemnly repudiated the engagement."
"And Phillis?"
"She laughed at them, of course. Do not fear; she wasn't in the least
annoyed. I shall speak to my brothers this evening."
Colquhoun thought of the small, fragile-looking pair, and inwardly
hoped that their brother would be gentle with them.
"And there is another thing, Colquhoun. Do you want to see your ward
married?"
"To Jack Dunquerque?"
"Yes."
"Not yet. I want her to have her little fling first. Why the poor
child is only just out of the nursery, and he wants to marry her
off-hand--it's cruel. Let her see the world for a year, and then we
will consider it. Jagenal, I wish I could marry the girl myself."
"So do I," said Joseph, with a sigh.
"I fell in love with her," said Lawrence, "at first sight. That is
why," he added, in his laziest tones, "I suppose that is why I told
Jack Dunquerque not to go there any more. But he has gone there again,
and he has proposed to her, I hear, and she has accepted him. So that
I can't marry her, and you can't, and we are a brace of fogies."
"And what have you said to Mr. Dunquerque?"
"I acted the jealous guardian, and I ordered him not to call on my
ward any more for the present. I shall see how Phillis takes it, and
give in, of course, if she makes a fuss. Then Beck has been here
offering to hand over all his money to Jack, because he loves the
young man."
"Quixotic," said the lawyer.
"Yes. The end of it will be a wedding, of course. You and I may shake
a leg at it if we like. As for me, I never can marry any one; and as
for you----"
"As for me, I never thought of marrying her. I only remarked that I
had fallen in love, as you say, with her. That's no matter to
anybody."
"Well, things go on as they like, not as we like. What nonsense it is
to say that man is master of his fate! Now, what I should like would
be to get rid of the reason that prevents my marrying; to put Jack
Dunquerque into the water-butt and sit on the lid; and then for
Phillis to fall in love with me. After that, strawberries and cream
with a little champagne for the rest of my Methuselah-like career. And
I can't get any of these things. Master of his fate?"
"Have you heard of the Coping-stone chapter? It is found."
"Agatha told me something, in a disjointed way. What is the effect of
it?"
Joseph laughed.
"It is all torn up but the last page. A righteous retribution, because
if Phillis had been taught to read this would not have happened. Now,
I suspect the will must be set aside, and the money will mostly go to
Gabriel Cassilis, the nearest of kin, who doesn't want it."