TWO UNWELCOME VISITORS.
The business of living goes on all the same let who will retire from
active participation in it, and, accordingly, Mrs. Mortomley and Lord
Darsham sat down to dinner, although the whilom master of the house lay
dead in that small room on the other side the hall, where he had made
his exit from this world. But, in truth, that dinner was a very funereal
affair. There was a something ghastly in eating of the ruined man's
substance; in drinking of the wines he had selected; in occupying the
apartment where he must often have sat at table with a guest no one else
could see facing him; and the conversation in Williams's presence,
compulsorily of no private nature, flagged as conversation did not often
flag when Dolly held one of the battledores.
With great persuasion Mrs. Werner had been induced to swallow a draught
ordered for her by the family physician, and she lay in a sleep as sound
and almost as dreamless as that which enfolded the silent figure lying
all alone in the twilight of the summer's evening.
Thirty hours before, he was alive; and now, his spirit had started on
the long, lonesome journey; and through the gloom of the Valley of the
Shadow no human eye could follow him.
Dolly could not get over the horror of it all; and when Mr. Forde's
knock woke the echoes of the house, she started from her seat in an
access of terror, and exclaiming,
"Oh! let me get upstairs before he comes in," left the room, and ran
upstairs to Mrs. Werner's apartment.
Meanwhile, Williams, before answering the summons, inquired whether his
Lordship would be pleased to see the expected visitor, and if so,
where.
"Yes," was the answer; "show him in here."
Mr. Forde entered. He had employed the interval between his two visits
in alternating between two opinions. One, that Henry Werner would come
to life again; the other, that Lord Darsham would wipe off the
deceased's indebtedness to the St. Vedast Wharf Company.
As the last would be by far the most satisfactory result to him, he
finally decided that a miracle would not be wrought in Henry Werner's
favour, but that Lord Darsham would pay, which Mr. Forde decided would
be better than a miracle.
Full of this idea, he entered the room with so subdued an expression,
and so deferential a manner, and so sympathising a face, that Lord
Darsham, who had heard Williams's account of his demeanour a few hours
previously, could scarcely believe the evidence of his eyes.
"Sad affair this, my Lord," remarked Mr. Forde when Williams, having
placed a chair for the visitor, had left the room.
"My Lord" agreed that it was a very sad affair.
"Particularly under the circumstances, my Lord," proceeded Mr. Forde.
"My Lord" thought that sudden death, under any circumstances must always
be regarded as very awful.
"And when a man dies by his own act--" Mr. Forde was commencing, when
Lord Darsham stopped him.
"Pardon me for interrupting you," he said, "but will you kindly inform
me upon what circumstance you ground your opinion that Mr. Werner did
die by his own act?"
"The state of his affairs, my Lord."
"Are his affairs embarrassed?"
"If you are not aware of the fact, my Lord, you are fortunate; for that
proves he is not in your Lordship's debt."
"He certainly owes me no money," was the reply. "But all this is not an
answer to my question. I entirely fail to see the connection between
his death and his debts. Is it a usual thing in the City for a man to
kill himself when he finds he cannot pay his way?"
"Not usual, my Lord; but still, such things are; and when one hears a
man in difficulties has taken chloroform for neuralgia, and is found
dead in consequence, one draws one's own conclusions."
"Well, I do not know," said the other thoughtfully; "but it seems to me
very hard that because a man owes money any one should imagine he has
thought it necessary to destroy himself. Mr. Werner, I imagine, was not
destitute of friends who would have been willing to assist him; at all
events, Mrs. Werner was not. To the utmost of their ability, I think I
may say, all her relations would have helped her husband had they been
aware of his embarrassments."
"That remark does you honour, my Lord. The sentiment is precisely what I
should have expected to hear you utter. In fact, I felt so satisfied you
would wish, for Mrs. Werner's sake, to keep this matter quiet, that, at
some inconvenience to myself, I ran up this evening to talk the affair
over."
"He is coming to some point now; he has, in his eagerness, forgotten to
milord me," thought Mrs. Werner's cousin, and he said aloud,
"I am much obliged; it was very kind and thoughtful of you, Mr. Forde."
"Don't mention it, I beg, my Lord," replied that gentleman. "Anything I
could do to serve you or Mrs. Werner would give me the greatest
pleasure. It is a very sad thing--very sad, indeed; but I think the
affair can be kept quiet if I tell my directors you are prepared to meet
their claims upon Mr. Werner. I do not wish to be troublesome, but I
think if you gave me a scrap of writing to that effect (the merest line
would do, just to prove that what I say is all _bona fide_), it might
make matters easier."
Lord Darsham stared at the speaker in unfeigned amazement.
"I am utterly at a loss to understand your meaning," he said.
"I merely meant that, as it is your Lordship's honourable intention to
wipe off Mr. Werner's liability to our firm, the sooner my directors are
satisfied on that point, the better it will be for every one concerned."
"I have not the slightest intention of paying any of Mr. Werner's
debts," was the reply. "I cannot imagine what could have induced you to
leap to such a conclusion."
"Your own words, my Lord--your own words!" retorted Mr. Forde, growing a
little hot. "Your Lordship said distinctly that had Mrs. Werner's
relations, amongst whom of course I reckon your Lordship, been aware of
Mr. Werner's embarrassments, he would have received substantial
assistance from the family."
"So he would," agreed Lord Darsham. "Had assistance been possible, we
should have given it."
"Then it follows as a matter of course, my Lord, that so far as lies in
your Lordship's power you will like to save his honour by paying his
debts."
"Such a deduction follows by no means," said Lord Darsham decidedly. "We
should have been very glad for Mrs. Werner's sake to assist her husband;
but we cannot assist him now. It is impossible we should have the
slightest interest in his creditors, and I can say most emphatically
they will never receive one penny from me."
"Do you consider this honourable conduct, my Lord?" asked Mr. Forde.
"Decidedly I do. While Mr. Werner was living we should have been willing
to help him, as I have already stated; now he is dead, he is beyond the
possibility of help."
"Now he is dead, it is a very easy thing for your Lordship to say you
would have helped him had he been living," observed Mr. Forde
tauntingly, with the nearest approach to a sneer of which his features
were capable.
Lord Darsham made no reply. He only smiled, and taking a fern from the
basket nearest to where he sat, laid it on the cloth and contemplated
its tracery.
"Am I to understand that it is your Lordship's deliberate determination
to do nothing?" asked Mr. Forde after a, to him, heart-breaking pause.
"I shall certainly not pay his debts, if that is what you mean," was the
reply.
Mr. Forde sat silent for a moment. He could scarcely believe in such
depravity. He had thought some degree of right and proper feeling
prevailed amongst the aristocracy, and now here was a lord, a creature
who happened to be a lord, who deliberately said he would not pay Henry
Werner's liabilities to the General Chemical Company, Limited!
At length he said,
"Perhaps your Lordship is not aware that this is a very serious matter
to me?"
"I am very sorry to hear it," was the reply, but Lord Darsham did not
look in the least sorry.
"If your Lordship will do nothing to enable me to tide over the anger of
my directors, I shall have to leave, and what will become of my wife and
children I cannot imagine. Your Lordship ought to consider them and me;
brought to beggary through the misconduct and cowardice of your
relative. Your Lordship will see me safe through this matter?" he
finished entreatingly.
"Mr. Forde," said his Lordship very gravely and very decidedly, "I wish
you would take my 'no' as final. In the first place, Mr. Werner was not
my relative; in the second, he is dead; in the third, if his affairs
should prove to be in the hopeless state you indicate, I shall have to
maintain his wife and family; and in the fourth, a man who violates
decency towards the dead and respect towards the living by using such
language as you thought fit to employ when speaking to-day to a servant,
must be held to have forfeited all claim to pity and consideration if he
ever possessed any."
"Why, what did I say?" inquired Mr. Forde.
Incredible as it may seem, he retained no recollection of having used
any phrase capable of giving the slightest offence. He had but one
idea--money--and of how he expressed himself when trying to get it or
when he found he had lost it, he had no more remembrance than a man of
his utterances in delirium.
"If your memory is so bad you must not come to me to refresh it,"
answered Lord Darsham. "I will only say that the next time you wish to
propitiate a man's friends, it may be more prudent for you not to open
proceedings by telling his servants he is a coward, who has committed
suicide because he feared to meet his creditors."
"That was true though," explained Mr. Forde.
"You are not in a position to know whether it is true or false," was the
reply; "but whether true or false, it was a most unseemly observation."
"I am the best judge of that, sir!" retorted Mr. Forde, rising as Lord
Darsham rose, and buttoning his coat up. "And when all comes out about
Henry Werner which must come out, you will be sorry you did not try to
come to some sort of a settlement with me. I hold his forged
acceptances for thousands, sir--thousands! I held him in the hollow of
my hand. I could have transported him any hour, but I refrained, and
this is all I get for my forbearance. I will make your ears tingle yet,
my Lord Darsham."
Without answering a word, Lord Darsham walked to the fireplace and rang
the bell, which Williams answered with unwonted celerity.
"Show Mr. Forde out," said Mrs. Werner's cousin, "and never let him
enter the house again."
"You do not mean it, my Lord; you cannot," urged the unfortunate
believer in human reeds, with a desperation which was almost pathetic.
"You will do something in the matter; you will think over it. Consider
my wife and children."
"Mr. Forde, I have nothing to do, and I will have nothing to do, with
you or your wife or your children."
Lord Darsham's tone was as conclusive as his words. Nevertheless, Mr.
Forde would have clung to this last straw, and shown him still more
reasons why he should make all right with his directors, had not
Williams taken him by the arm and half pushed, half dragged him to the
front door, and thrust him without ceremony out into the night.
"I really think the best thing I could do would be to go and drown
myself," he thought, as he looked up at the window of the room where
Henry Werner lay dead; but he was not of the stuff suicides are made of.
He neither drowned nor hanged himself, swallowed poison nor cut his
throat. He went home and slept upon his trouble instead.
To Mrs. Mortomley's relief, the coroner's inquest, held to find out the
why and wherefore attending Mr. Werner's decease, resulted in a verdict
of "Accidental Death." The jury, it is perhaps unnecessary to state,
added a recommendation that chloroform should never be inhaled save
under the advice and in the presence of a medical man.
What good purpose they proposed to effect by this advice was known only
to themselves, but the next day it appeared in all the dignity of print
in the daily papers, and was in due time copied from them into the
country papers, and so read in London and throughout the provinces by
all whom it might or might not concern.
Whatever Williams' opinion of Mr. Forde's utterances might be, after a
night's reflection he was too discreet a servant to give utterance to
it, and consequently his statements were perfectly satisfactory to
jurymen and coroner alike. The City and the West End were so far apart
that not a whisper of embarrassment had reached the ears of the two
doctors who gave evidence in the case. The dead man had been far too
astute to leave even a scrap of writing indicating his design, and it
was with a feeling of no common satisfaction that Lord Darsham, after
that anxious hour was over, gave an attendant undertaker audience, and
instructed him to provide a strictly private funeral for the morning
next but one following.
Having done this, he walked with a lighter heart to his hotel, having
told Mrs. Mortomley he would see her again the following day, but he
had not left the house ten minutes before a man sprucely dressed, jaunty
in manner, fluent of speech, assured as to demeanour, rang at the
visitors' bell and asked to see Mr. Werner.
"Mr. Werner is dead," answered Williams, looking doubtfully at the
new-comer, who wore a geranium in his coat, and used a toothpick freely
during the interview.
"I heard something about that. Awkward, ain't it?" remarked the
free-and-easy individual. "I'll have to see Mrs. Werner, that is all,"
he added, after a moment's pause.
"My mistress cannot see any one," Williams replied, closing the door
about an inch, as he saw an intention on the stranger's part of entering
uninvited.
The other laughed, and put his foot on the threshold.
"Not so fast, my friend," he said. "I have come concerning a little
matter which must be attended to immediately. We can talk about it more
at our ease inside," and with a quick and unexpected movement he put
Williams on one side and stood within the hall. "That is all right," he
said, drawing his breath with a sigh of relief. "Now I want half a
year's rent, that is my business."
"There is no one here who can attend to any business at present,"
replied Williams. "My master is lying dead in the house. The funeral is
to be the day after to-morrow. My mistress has not left her room since
yesterday morning, and Lord Darsham has just gone to his hotel."
"Then you had better send to his hotel after him," answered the visitor,
sitting down on one of the hall chairs and commencing music-hall
reminiscences by softly whistling a negro melody through his teeth.
Now, it is a fact, Williams had not the faintest idea who or what this
man really was. He had lived all his life, if not in the best families,
at least in families that paid their way, and knew nothing of duns or
writs, or summonses or sheriff's officers, and he, therefore, stood
looking in astonishment, not unmixed with indignation, at the gentleman
possessed of musical proclivities till that person, out of patience
with his hesitation, exclaimed,
"Now then, stupid, are you going to send for that lord you were speaking
of, or are you not? I can't wait here all day while you are making up
your small brains into a big parcel. If you don't look sharp I must
leave a man in possession, and I don't expect your people would thank
you much for that."
"Will you tell me what you mean?" Williams entreated.
First the death, then Mr. Forde, then this--it was too much experience
thrust upon him all at once.
"I mean," said the other, speaking very slowly, and looking very
intently at Williams from under the brim of his hat, which was tilted
well over his eyes, "that I am sent here to get two quarters' rent, and
that I must either have it or leave a man in charge of enough to cover
the amount. So now you had better see about the getting the money, for I
ain't a-going to waste my blessed time here much longer for any man
living or dead--Lords or Commons."
And he rose as if to give emphasis to his words, rose and yawned and
stretched himself, after which performances he sat down again.
"If you wait for a few minutes I will see what can be done," said
Williams, his thoughts turning in this dire extremity to Mrs. Mortomley.
"I'll wait, never fear," answered the other; and he took a newspaper
from his pocket and began to read it with a nonchalant manner which
fairly appalled the butler.
Dolly was sitting alone in the great drawing-room, that which Mr. Werner
had furnished so gorgeously after his own taste--a taste Mrs. Mortomley
always considered vile, when Williams came quietly in.
"I beg your pardon, ma'am, but a most unpleasant thing has occurred, and
I thought it better to mention it to you. A person is below who says he
wants two quarters' rent, and that he must have it."
"I do not know where or from whom he is to get it then," remarked Mrs.
Mortomley, lifting her heavy eyes from the book she was reading.
"But--excuse me, ma'am, I hardly like to repeat his words, only I really
do not know how to get rid of him. He says he must leave a man in
possession if he is not paid immediately."
"If he must we cannot prevent him," Dolly answered. She had gone through
it all. She understood this was the beginning of the end for her friend
Leonora, and she felt no good could possible accrue from exciting
herself about the matter.
Not so Williams; fortunately he attributed Mrs. Mortomley's indifference
to non-comprehension, otherwise her _sang froid_ would have shocked him
beyond measure. Personally he felt he could scarcely outlive the
degradation of being in the house with a bailiff. He was willing to make
any exertion, to endure any sacrifice, to avert so great a calamity.
"Had not I better go for his Lordship?" he suggested.
"You can if you like," she answered; "but I do not think your doing so
can serve any good purpose. In the first place you may not find Lord
Darsham at his hotel; in the second, I do not believe this man would
wait till you could return. Then, these people never will take a cheque,
and it is long past bank hours, and finally, I very much doubt whether
Lord Darsham ought to pay any account until he has seen Mr. Werner's
lawyers."
Williams was scandalized. She not merely understood what it meant
perfectly, but she took the whole matter as coolly as though told her
milliner had called about fitting on a dress. It was time he asserted
his position and vindicated his respectability; so he ventured,
"These things are very unpleasant, ma'am."
Dolly looked at him and understood that, shown the slightest loophole of
an excuse, he would have given notice on the instant. Now this was
precisely what she wished to avoid. That the servants must be dispersed
and the house dismantled she knew, but she wanted Leonora back amongst
her own people, and the body of the poor pretender, who had wrought such
evil for himself and others, laid in its quiet grave before the work of
destruction commenced, and so she answered,
"Yes, indeed, Williams, they are and must seem particularly unpleasant
to you. I ought to have thought of that. I will see this person myself."
And before Williams could interpose, or by look or hint explain to her
how much worse than improper he considered her personal interference,
she had descended the staircase and was crossing the hall.
At sight of her the man rose from his seat, and believing her to be Mrs.
Werner, he began some awkward apology for his presence.
Then Dolly explained she was only a friend staying in the house; that
she feared at so late an hour in the evening it would be useless sending
for Lord Darsham, and that in short, she worded it delicately but
explicitly, he had better do whatever was necessary, and go about his
business.
Which without the slightest unnecessary delay he did. First he opened
the outer door, and whistled for his man as if whistling for a dog. Then
he made a rapid inventory of a few articles in the dining-room, and
after handing a paper to Mrs. Mortomley, took his leave.
Then appeared Williams, more erect in his respectability, more severe in
his deportment, more correct in his speech than ever. He had made up his
mind. He would give notice to Lord Darsham in the morning.
"Where would it please you, ma'am, for that person to pass the night?"
he inquired.
Dolly went out into the hall where sat one of the men who had been such
unwelcome visitors at Homewood.
Recognising her, he stood up and touched his forehead respectfully.
"It is you then," she remarked; "that is fortunate. Of course, there is
no necessity for you to remain here."
"I am afraid I must, ma'am, orders is orders, and--"
"You can leave quite easily," she interrupted, "and you know that. You
can come back in the morning. You must dress in black and wear a white
cravat, and ask for Mr. Williams, and the servants will imagine you come
from the undertaker. I will give you a sovereign if you oblige me in
this matter, and I am sure Lord Darsham will not forget you either.
Take the key with you if you like."
Still the man hesitated. He looked at the sovereign lying in his hand,
and then at Mrs. Mortomley. Then he ventured,
"Is--is there anything else in? I know you are a lady as wouldn't
deceive me."
"Nothing," she answered.
"Or expected?" he went on.
"There is nothing expected," was the reply. "But something may come,
although I do not think it in the least degree probable. If it does, I
will say you are already in possession; no harm shall come to you."
"I must stay for a little while, for fear of the governor coming back,
but I will leave before ten o'clock if that will do?"
"That will do," said Mrs. Mortomley.
What a contagion there is in vice!
As vice, or indeed as worse than vice, Williams regarded these mysteries
with which Mrs. Mortomley was evidently _au courant_, and yet there
seemed a fascination about it all to the butler.
As such things were to be, why should he not master their details?
Although he despised the French, he knew a knowledge of their language
sometimes stood a man in good stead, and in like manner if sovereigns
were being flung about in this reckless fashion, why should he, through
superior address, not have the manipulation of them? His knowledge of
mankind taught him half-a-crown would have compassed Mrs. Mortomley's
desires as completely as twenty shillings, and Williams sighed over that
balance of seventeen shillings and sixpence, as Mr. Swanland had sighed
over John Jones' two pounds ten shillings.
"I want you, Williams," said Mrs. Mortomley, when his meditations had
assumed the form of regrets, and he followed her into the dining-room.
"You had better let that man have some supper," she said. "I suppose you
can manage to do so, and if for a day or two you are able so to arrange
matters that no one shall suspect who or what he is, I am certain Lord
Darsham will be very much obliged. And I can only say for my own part,
I am very much obliged and--" a slight pantomime of offer and protest
and final acceptance, and another of Dolly's sovereigns had gone the way
which so many sovereigns, that can ill be spared, do go in this prosaic
world.
Williams did not give notice next morning to Lord Darsham, and his
forbearance was rewarded.