"I am staying there just now, you know, and as it happens I must go back
to town by the night-train. I'll only be gone a day, but you know that
Ladlaw is a melancholy beggar and gets low-spirited. Now I want you to
go up and stay at the House for a couple of nights while I am away."
It was an odd request, and he stared at me. "Why, what's wrong with Mr
Ladlaw?" he asked. "I should never have called him melancholy. Now, his
lady is different. She always looks a little pale. Did she send you to
ask me?" Mr Oliphant was a stickler for the usages of polite society.
I sat down in a chair and took one of his cigarettes. "Now, look here,
Oliphant," I said. "You are a man of education and common-sense, and I
am going to do you the honour to tell you a story which I would not tell
to a stupid man. A stupid man would laugh at me. I hope you will see the
gravity of the thing."
I told him briefly the points in Ladlaw's case. His eyes grew very round
as I went on, and when I finished he laughed nervously. He was clearly
impressed; but he was too ignorant and unimaginative to understand
fully, and he had his credit as a representative of modern thought to
support. "Oh, come now! You don't mean all that; I never heard the like
of it. You can't expect me as a Christian man to believe in a Pagan
spirit. I might as well believe in ghosts at once. What has the familiar
of a heathen emperor to do with this parish?"
"Justinian was a Christian," I said.
He looked puzzled. "It's all preposterous. Meaning no disrespect to you,
I must decline to believe it. My profession compels me to discourage
such nonsense."
"So does mine," I said wearily. "Good Lord! man, do you think I came
here to tell you a fairy tale? It's the most terrible earnest. Now I
want you to give me an answer, for I have very little time."
He was still incredulous and inclined to argue. "Do you know if Mr
Ladlaw has been--eh--a strictly temperate man?" he asked.
With this my patience departed. I got up to go, with rude thoughts on
the stupidity of the clergy. But Mr Oliphant was far from a refusal. He
had no objection to exchange the barren comfort of the manse for the
comparative luxury of the House, and he had no distrust of his power to
enliven. As he accompanied me to the door he explained his position.
"You see, if they really want me I will come. Tell Mrs Ladlaw that I
shall be delighted. Mrs Ladlaw is a lady for whom I have a great
respect."
"So have I," I said crossly. "Very well. A trap shall be sent for you
after dinner. Good evening, Mr Oliphant. It is a pleasure to have met
you."
When I reached the House, I told Sybil of my arrangement. For the first
time since my arrival she smiled. "It's very kind of him, but I am
afraid he won't do much good. Bob will frighten him away."
"I fancy he won't. The man is strong in his self-confidence and
remarkably dense. He'll probably exasperate Bob into sanity. In any case
I'll be back by Friday morning."
As I drove away the trap arrived at the door, bringing Mr Oliphant and
his portmanteau.
* * * * * * *
The events of the next twenty-four hours, during which I was travelling
in the Scotch express or transacting dreary business in my chambers, are
known only from the narrative of the minister. He wrote it out some
weeks after at my request, for I wished to have all the links in the
tale. I propose to give the gist of it, as he wrote it, stripped of
certain reflections on human life and an inscrutable Providence, with
which he had garnished it.
_Narrative of the Reverend Mr Oliphant_
I arrived at the House of More at a quarter-past eight on the Wednesday
evening. The family had dined early, as Mr Grey was leaving for London,
and when I arrived I was taken to the library, where I found Mr Ladlaw.
I had not seen him for some time, and thought him looking pale and a
little haggard. He seemed glad to see me, and made me sit down in a
chair on his left and draw it up close to him. I wondered at his manner,
for though we had always been on good terms he had never admitted me to
any close intimacy. But now he was more than amiable. He made me ring
for toddy, and though he refused to taste it himself, he pressed the
beverage on me. Then he gave me a large cigar, at which I trembled, and
finally he said that we should play at picquet. I declined resolutely,
for it is part of my conscience to refuse to join in any card games; but
he made no trouble, and indeed in a moment seemed to have forgotten his
proposition.
The next thing he did startled my composure. For he asked abruptly, "Do
you believe in a living personal Devil, Oliphant?"