MR. TRAFFICK IN LOMBARD STREET.
Mr. Traffick entertained some grand ideas as to the house of Travers
and Treason. Why should not he become a member, and ultimately the
leading member, of that firm? Sir Thomas was not a young man, though
he was strong and hearty. Tom had hitherto succeeded only in making
an ass of himself. As far as transacting the affairs of the firm,
Tom,--so thought Mr. Traffick,--was altogether out of the question.
He might perish in those extensive travels which he was about to
take. Mr. Traffick did not desire any such catastrophe;--but the
young man might perish. There was a great opening. Mr. Traffick, with
his thorough knowledge of business, could not but see that there was
a great opening. Besides Tom, there were but two daughters, one of
whom was his own wife. Augusta, his wife, was, he thought, certainly
the favourite at the present moment. Sir Thomas could, indeed, say
rough things even to her; but then Sir Thomas was of his nature
rough. Now, at this time, the rough things said to Gertrude were
very much the rougher. In all these circumstances the wisdom of
interfering in Gertrude's little affairs was very clear to Mr.
Traffick. Gertrude would, of course, get herself married sooner or
later, and almost any other husband would obtain a larger portion
than that which would satisfy Batsby. Sir Thomas was now constantly
saying good things about Mr. Houston. Mr. Houston would be much more
objectionable than Captain Batsby,--much more likely to interfere.
He would require more money at once, and might possibly come forward
himself in the guise of a partner. Mr. Traffick saw his way clearly.
It was incumbent upon him to see that Gertrude should become Mrs.
Batsby with as little delay as possible.
But one thing he did not see. One thing he had failed to see since
his first introduction to the Tringle family. He had not seen the
peculiar nature of his father-in-law's foibles. He did not understand
either the weakness or the strength of Sir Thomas,--either the
softness or the hardness. Mr. Traffick himself was blessed with a
very hard skin. In the carrying out of a purpose there was nothing
which his skin was not sufficiently serviceable to endure. But Sir
Thomas, rough as he was, had but a thin skin;--a thin skin and a
soft heart. Had Houston and Gertrude persevered he would certainly
have given way. For Tom, in his misfortune, he would have made any
sacrifice. Though he had given the broadest hints which he had been
able to devise he had never as yet brought himself absolutely to turn
Traffick out of his house. When Ayala was sent away he still kept her
name in his will, and added also that of Lucy as soon as Lucy had
been entrusted to him. Had things gone a little more smoothly between
him and Hamel when they met,--had he not unluckily advised that all
the sculptor's grand designs should be sold by auction for what they
would fetch,--he would have put Hamel and Lucy upon their legs. He
was a soft-hearted man;--but there never was one less willing to
endure interference in his own affairs.
At the present moment he was very sore as to the presence of Traffick
in Queen's Gate. The Easter parliamentary holidays were just at
hand, and there was no sign of any going. Augusta had whispered
to her mother that the poky little house in Mayfair would be very
uncomfortable for the coming event,--and Lady Tringle, though she had
not dared to say even as much as that in plain terms to her husband,
had endeavoured to introduce the subject by little hints,--which
Sir Thomas had clearly understood. He was hardly the man to turn a
daughter and an expected grandchild into the streets; but he was,
in his present mood, a father-in-law who would not unwillingly
have learned that his son-in-law was without a shelter except that
afforded by the House of Commons. Why on earth should he have given
up one hundred and twenty thousand pounds,--£6,000 a-year as it was
under his fostering care,--to a man who could not even keep a house
over his wife's head? This was the humour of Sir Thomas when Mr.
Traffick undertook to prevail with him to give an adequate fortune to
his youngest daughter on her marriage with Captain Batsby.
The conversation between Traffick and Batsby took place on a Sunday.
On the following day the Captain went down to the House and saw the
Member. "No; I have not spoken to him yet."
"I was with him on Friday, you know," said Batsby. "I can't well
go and call on the ladies in Queen's Gate till I hear that he has
changed his mind."
"I should. I don't see what difference it would make."
Then Captain Batsby was again very thoughtful. "It would make a
difference, you know. If I were to say a word to Gertrude now,--as to
being married or anything of that kind,--it would seem that I meant
to go on whether I got anything or not."
"And you should seem to want to go on," said Traffick, with all that
authority which the very surroundings of the House of Commons always
give to the words and gait of a Member.
"But then I might find myself dropped in a hole at last."
"My dear Batsby, you made that hole for yourself when you ran off
with the young lady."
"We settled all that before."
"Not quite. What we did settle was that we'd do our best to fill the
hole up. Of course you ought to go and see them. You went off with
the young lady,--and since that have been accepted as her suitor by
her father. You are bound to go and see her."
"Do you think so?"
"Certainly! Certainly! It never does to talk to Tringle about
business at his own house. I'll make an hour to see him in the City
to-morrow. I'm so pressed by business that I can hardly get away from
the House after twelve;--but, I'll do it. But, while I'm in Lombard
Street, do you go to Queen's Gate." The Captain after further
consideration said that he would go to Queen's Gate.
At three o'clock on the next day he did go to Queen's Gate. He had
many misgivings, feeling that by such a step he would be committing
himself to matrimony with or without the money. No doubt he could so
offer himself, even to Lady Tringle, as a son-in-law, that it should
be supposed that the offer would depend upon the father-in-law's
goodwill. But then the father-in-law had told him that he would be
welcome to the young lady,--without a farthing. Should he go on
with his matrimonial purpose, towards which this visit would be an
important step, he did not see the moment in which he could stop the
proceedings by a demand for money. Nevertheless he went, not being
strong enough to oppose Mr. Traffick.
Yes;--the ladies were at home, and he found himself at once in Lady
Tringle's presence. There was at the time no one with her, and the
Captain acknowledged to himself that a trying moment had come to him.
"Dear me! Captain Batsby!" said her ladyship, who had not seen him
since he and Gertrude had gone off together.
"Yes, Lady Tringle. As I have come back from abroad I thought that I
might as well come and call. I did see Sir Thomas in the City."
"Was not that a very foolish thing you did?"
"Perhaps it was, Lady Tringle. Perhaps it would have been better to
ask permission to address your daughter in the regular course of
things. There was, perhaps,--perhaps a little romance in going off in
that way."
"It gave Sir Thomas a deal of trouble."
"Well, yes; he was so quick upon us you know. May I be allowed to see
Gertrude now?"
"Upon my word I hardly know," said Lady Tringle, hesitating.
"I did see Sir Thomas in the City."
"But did he say you were to come and call?"
"He gave his consent to the marriage."
"But I am afraid there was to be no money," whispered Lady Tringle.
"If money is no matter I suppose you may see her." But before
the Captain had resolved how he might best answer this difficult
suggestion the door opened, and the young lady herself entered the
room, together with her sister.
"Benjamin," said Gertrude, "is this really you?" And then she flew
into his arms.
"My dear," said Augusta, "do control your emotions."
"Yes, indeed, Gertrude," said the mother. "As the things are at
present you should control yourself. Nobody as yet knows what may
come of it."
"Oh, Benjamin!" again exclaimed Gertrude, tearing herself from his
arms, throwing herself on the sofa, and covering her face with both
her hands. "Oh, Benjamin,--so you have come at last."
"I am afraid he has come too soon," said Augusta, who however had
received her lesson from her husband, and had communicated some
portion of her husband's tidings to her sister.
"Why too soon?" exclaimed Gertrude. "It can never be too soon. Oh,
mamma, tell him that you make him welcome to your bosom as your
second son-in-law."
"Upon my word, my dear, I do not know, without consulting your
father."
"But papa has consented," said Gertrude.
"But only if--"
"Oh, mamma," said Mrs. Traffick, "do not talk about matters of
business on such an occasion as this. All that must be managed
between the gentlemen. If he is here as Gertrude's acknowledged
lover, and if papa has told him that he shall be accepted as such, I
don't think that we ought to say a word about money. I do hate money.
It does make things so disagreeable."
"Nobody can be more noble in everything of that kind than Benjamin,"
said Gertrude. "It is only because he loves me with all his heart
that he is here. Why else was it that he took me off to Ostend?"
Captain Batsby as he listened to all this felt that he ought to say
something. And yet how dangerous might a word be! It was apparent to
him, even in his perturbation, that the ladies were in fact asking
him to renew his offer, and to declare that he renewed it altogether
independently of any money consideration. He could not bring himself
quite to agree with that noble sentiment in expressing which Mrs.
Traffick had declared her hatred of money. In becoming the son-in-law
of a millionaire he would receive the honest congratulations of all
his friends,--on condition that he received some comfortable fraction
out of the millions, but he knew well that he would subject himself
to their ridicule were he to take the girl and lose the plunder. If
he were to answer them now as they would have him answer he would
commit himself to the girl without any bargain as to the plunder.
And yet what else was there for him to do? He must be a brave man
who can stand up before a girl and declare that he will love her for
ever,--on condition that she shall have so many thousand pounds; but
he must be more than brave, he will be heroic, who can do so in the
presence not only of the girl but of the girl's mother and married
sister as well. Captain Batsby was no such hero. "Of course," he said
at last.
"Of course what?" asked Augusta.
"It was because I loved her."
"I knew that he loved me," sobbed Gertrude.
"And you are here, because you intend to make her your wife in
presence of all men?" asked Augusta.
"Oh certainly."
"Then I suppose that it will be all right," said Lady Tringle.
"It will be all right," said Augusta. "And now, mamma, I think that
we may leave them alone together." But to this Lady Tringle would
not give her assent. She had not had confided to her the depth of Mr.
Traffick's wisdom, and declared herself opposed to any absolute overt
love-making until Sir Thomas should have given his positive consent.
"It is all the same thing, Benjamin, is it not?" said Augusta,
assuming already the familiarity of a sister in-law.
"Oh quite," said the Captain.
But Gertrude looked as though she did not think it to be exactly
the same. Such deficiency as that, however, she had to endure; and
she received from her sister after the Captain's departure full
congratulations as to her lover's return. "To tell you the truth,"
said Augusta, "I didn't think that you would ever see him again.
After what papa said to him in the City he might have got off and
nobody could have said a word to him. Now he's fixed."
Captain Batsby effected his escape as quickly as he could, and went
home a melancholy man. He, too, was aware that he was fixed; and, as
he thought of this, a dreadful idea fell upon him that the Honourable
Mr. Traffick had perhaps played him false.
In the meantime Mr. Traffick was true to his word and went into the
City. In the early days of his married life his journeys to Lombard
Street were frequent. The management and investing of his wife's
money had been to him a matter of much interest, and he had felt a
gratification in discussing any money matter with the man who handled
millions. In this way he had become intimate with the ways of the
house, though latterly his presence there had not been encouraged.
"I suppose I can go in to Sir Thomas," he said, laying his hand upon
a leaf in the counter, which he had been accustomed to raise for the
purpose of his own entrance. But here he was stopped. His name should
be taken in and Sir Thomas duly apprised. In the meantime he was
relegated to a dingy little waiting-room, which was odious to him,
and there he was kept waiting for half-an-hour. This made him angry,
and he called to one of the clerks. "Will you tell Sir Thomas that
I must be down at the House almost immediately, and that I am
particularly anxious to see him on business of importance?" For
another ten minutes he was still kept, and then he was shown into
his father-in law's presence. "I am very sorry, Traffick," said Sir
Thomas, "but I really can't turn two Directors of the Bank of England
out of my room, even for you."
"I only thought I would just let you know that I am in a hurry."
"So am I, for the matter of that. Have you gone to your father's
house to-day, so that you would not be able to see me in Queen's
Gate?"
This was intended to be very severe, but Mr. Traffick bore it. It
was one of those rough things which Sir Thomas was in the habit of
saying, but which really meant nothing. "No. My father is still at
his house as yet, though they are thinking of going every day. It is
about another matter, and I did not want to trouble you with it at
home."
"Let us hear what it is."
"Captain Batsby has been with me."
"Oh, he has, has he?"
"I've known him ever so long. He's a foolish fellow."
"So he seems."
"But a gentleman."
"Perhaps I am not so good a judge of that. His folly I did perceive."
"Oh yes; he's a gentleman. You may take my word for that. And he has
means."
"That's an advantage."
"While that fellow Houston is hardly more than a beggar. And Batsby
is quite in earnest about Gertrude."
"If the two of them wish it he can have her to-morrow. She has made
herself a conspicuous ass by running away with him, and perhaps it's
the best thing she can do."
"That's just it. Augusta sees it quite in the same light."
"Augusta was never tempted. You wouldn't have run away."
"It wasn't necessary, Sir Thomas, was it? There he is,--ready to
marry her to-morrow. But, of course, he is a little anxious about the
money."
"I dare say he is."
"I've been talking to him,--and the upshot is, that I have promised
to speak to you. He isn't at all a bad fellow."
"He'd keep a house over his wife's head, you think?" Sir Thomas had
been particularly irate that morning, and before the arrival of his
son-in-law had sworn to himself that Traffick should go. Augusta
might remain, if she pleased, for the occurrence; but the Honourable
Septimus should no longer eat and drink as an inhabitant of his
house.
"He'd do his duty by her as a man should do," said Traffick,
determined to ignore the disagreeable subject.
"Very well. There she is."
"But of course he would like to hear something about money."
"Would he?"
"That's only natural."
"You found it so,--did you not? What's the good of giving a girl
money when her husband won't spend it. Perhaps this Captain Batsby
would expect to live at Queen's Gate or Merle Park."
It was impossible to go on enduring this without notice. Mr.
Traffick, however, only frowned and shook his head. It was clear
at last that Sir Thomas intended to be more than rough, and it was
almost imperative upon Mr. Traffick to be rough in return. "I am
endeavouring to do my duty by the family," he said.
"Oh indeed."
"Gertrude has eloped with this man, and the thing is talked about
everywhere. Augusta feels it very much."
"She does, does she?"
"And I have thought it right to ask his intentions."
"He didn't knock you down, or anything of that sort?"
"Knock me down?"
"For interfering. But he hasn't pluck for that. Houston would have
done it immediately. And I should have said he was right. But if you
have got anything to say, you had better say it. When you have done,
then I shall have something to say."
"I've told him that he couldn't expect as much as you would have
given her but for this running away."
"You told him that?"
"Yes; I told him that. Then some sum had to be mentioned. He
suggested a hundred thousand pounds."
"How very modest. Why should he have put up with less than you,
seeing that he has got something of his own?"
"He hasn't my position, Sir. You know that well enough. Now to make a
long and short of it, I suggested sixty."
"Out of your own pocket?"
"Not exactly."
"But out of mine?"
"You're her father, and I suppose you intend to provide for her."
"And you have come here to dictate to me the provision which I am to
make for my own child! That is an amount of impudence which I did not
expect even from you. But suppose that I agree to the terms. Will he,
do you think, consent to have a clause put into the settlement?"
"What clause?"
"Something that shall bind him to keep a house for his own wife's
use, so that he should not take my money and then come and live upon
me afterwards."
"Sir Thomas," said the Member of Parliament, "that is a mode of
expression so uncourteous that I cannot bear it even from you."
"Is there any mode of expression that you cannot bear?"
"If you want me to leave your house, say it at once."
"Why I have been saying it for the last six months! I have been
saying it almost daily since you were married."
"If so you should have spoken more clearly, for I have not understood
you."
"Heavens and earth," ejaculated Sir Thomas.
"Am I to understand that you wish your child to leave your roof
during this inclement weather in her present delicate condition?"
"Are you in a delicate condition?" asked Sir Thomas. To this Mr.
Traffick could condescend to make no reply. "Because, if not, you, at
any rate, had better go,--unless you find the weather too inclement."
"Of course I shall go," said Mr. Traffick. "No consideration on earth
shall induce me to eat another meal under your roof until you shall
have thought good to have expressed regret for what you have said."
"Then it is very long before I shall have to give you another meal."
"And now what shall I say to Captain Batsby?"
"Tell him from me," said Sir Thomas, "that he cannot possibly set
about his work more injudiciously than by making you his ambassador."
Then Mr. Traffick took his departure.
It may be as well to state here that Mr. Traffick kept his threat
religiously,--at any rate, to the end of the Session. He did not eat
another meal during that period under his father-in-law's roof. But
he slept there for the next two or three days until he had suited
himself with lodgings in the neighbourhood of the House. In doing
this, however, he contrived to get in and out without encountering
Sir Thomas. His wife in her delicate condition,--and because of the
inclemency of the weather,--awaited the occurrence at Queen's Gate.