THE VIRTUE OF GREY TOWN.
The City Fathers who governed the municipality of Grey Town were not
unlike the councillors in other towns and cities. They laid no claim to
a pre-eminence in wisdom, professing to be merely ordinary men of
business, of sound common sense, and strictly honest for the greater
part.
Councillor Garnett was perhaps the single exception to this rule of
honesty. The other councillors worked from a sense of duty, possibly
urged by a worthy ambition. Councillor Garnett occasionally dipped his
hand in the municipal purse, and brought from it as many golden guineas
as he could clutch. Yet he had led the Council for many years, and was
still regarded by the Conservative element as a worthy leader. In all
probability he would have continued to rule the civic affairs of Grey
Town had not Denis Quirk come to the town to turn things upside down and
sweep away certain municipal cobwebs.
The question as to the purchase of a block of land in the town for the
erection of Council stables and cart houses was made a test question by
both parties as to who should control the future destinies of Grey Town.
It had already been decided to erect the necessary buildings. Councillor
Garnett had then moved that a certain vacant section in one of the
streets should be purchased, when Denis Quirk rose to his feet.
Immediately there was a certain electrical excitement in the Council
Chambers, that was reflected in the alert faces of the councillors. They
sat attentively with expectant ears as he began to speak.
"Sir," he said, "I am here to oppose anything that approaches municipal
corruption."
"I object to that word," growled Garnett.
"You object to the word and I object to the deed," Denis replied,
quietly. "We are not here to line our own pockets, or, if we are here
for that purpose, we are in the wrong place. Our purpose should be to
act as watch-dogs for the ratepayers, to guard their interests. What if
the dogs start to worry the sheep? I accuse Councillor Garnett in this
matter of abusing his position as a councillor. I accuse him of
disingenuousness that borders on fraud."
"Oh, come, come," said an elderly councillor, who was constantly
scandalised by Denis Quirk's want of municipal decorum. "Fraud is an
unpleasant word."
"Undoubtedly," Denis continued. "But it amounts to that. Councillor
Garnett is directly interested in the land that he is urging the Council
to purchase at a false price."
The words were spoken quietly, and with a certain deliberation that was
impressive.
"That is a lie!" cried Councillor Garnett, now aroused to fury.
"Order! Order!" cried the Mayor. "I ask Councillor Garnett to withdraw
that word."
"Let Councillor Quirk withdraw his accusation first," suggested another
councillor.
"I intend to prove it," answered Denis. "Will Councillor Garnett tell me
who is George Haynes?"
"How should I know?" replied Councillor Garnett, doggedly thrusting his
hands in his trousers pockets and tilting his chair backwards.
"Who should know better than you? George Haynes is a dummy, a former
clerk in your office, who has been made to appear the owner of this land
to cover you in this transaction. I have the copy of a deed here that
directly proves my statement."
"How did you obtain it?" asked Garnett, when someone plucked his sleeve
and thrust a paper in to his hands.
"Turn the tables on him. Ask him why he left Goldenvale; has he been
divorced; and what about the funds of the Goldenvale Investment Society
which he was accused of embezzling?" he read; but, when he turned to see
the messenger, the latter had vanished.
"Never mind how I obtained it. May I read it?" Denis asked the Mayor.
"One minute first. Let us have the credentials of this reformer before
we listen to his accusation. I refuse to be judged by a dissolute
ruffian, a divorced man and one accused of embezzling the funds of an
investment society. Why did Councillor Quirk leave Goldenvale?" cried
Councillor Garnett, triumphantly.
This accusation came as a thunderbolt to the Council, when those who
were friendly to Garnett were pondering how they should act in view of
Denis Quirk's charges; and those who stood opposed to Garnett were
rejoicing in his discomfort. To the former his counter charges came as a
relief; to the latter they brought doubt and consternation. Only one man
seemed perfectly composed and he was the person accused.
"My past history does not concern the Council if I can prove my present
statement," he said very quietly.
"It concerns the Council vitally. How can we believe a man with your
reputation?" asked Garnett.
"The latter part of that charge is false."
Again a paper was thrust into Garnett's hand. This time Denis Quirk
noted the action, and the face of Gerard, the messenger. He smiled
grimly.
Garnett glanced at the paper and read the heading.
"Quirk in Court. Accused of misappropriating the funds of the Investment
Society. Case part heard."
"Does Councillor Quirk know this paper?" he asked. "The 'Goldenvale
Investigator?'"
"I used to know it. It was a rival of my own paper, 'The Firebrand,' and
a most unscrupulous paper."
"Perhaps you remember this?"
Garnett handed the paper across the table to Denis.
Denis read the heading aloud to the Council, ending with the last lines:
"Case part heard."
"Have you the next issue of this rag?" he asked. "If so, you will find
that the result of this case was a complete vindication. I was
triumphantly acquitted. A month later you will find an abject apology
from 'The Investigator.' This was a trumped-up affair, the work of my
enemies. To-morrow I shall publish the full details in 'The Mercury.'"
But the Council were determined that he should no longer be heard. When
he asked again:
"May I read this document?" the Mayor replied:
"I do not think it is in order."
"I intend to read it," cried Denis.
"I rule you out of order," answered the Mayor.
Denis began to read slowly and deliberately, but the opposing
councillors prevented him with a babel of cries. The meeting finally
broke up in great disorder, after Denis had attempted to make himself
heard and had been escorted from the Council Chambers by the Town Clerk.
The following day he began his battle with Grey Town, a fight in which
all fair-minded and right-thinking men conceded him a victory. He
published the full account of the proceedings in the Goldenvale Court,
ending in a triumphant acquittal, and the subsequent apology in "The
Investigator." He also published the document purporting to be signed by
George Haynes. It was an acknowledgment of the loan of a sum of money,
equivalent to that which Haynes had paid for the land under offer to the
Council, and a promise to repay the money at an exorbitant rate of
interest to Garnett. Very few impartial men doubted the real meaning of
the transaction.
But Garnett knew Grey Town. It was not a particularly moral town, but
there were periods when it arose in virtuous indignation to punish the
evil-doer, and it generally selected as its victim the man who was the
least guilty. Denis Quirk was made the object of one of these outbursts
of public morality. He was a man of dissolute morals, divorced under
peculiar circumstances. Denis Quirk must be booted out of Grey Town.
The Quirks were at breakfast on the day that followed the scene in the
Council Chambers; only Denis was absent. Samuel Quirk was reading "The
Mercury" when his son's name caught his eye.
"What is this about Denis?" he cried; but as he read he wished he had
not spoken, for he loved and respected his wife, notwithstanding his
professed scorn for her.
"And what is it?" she asked.
"Never you mind. Denis can fight for himself," he answered.
"Just read it to me," she urged.
"What for would a woman be wanting to hear such things?" he answered,
and thrust the paper in his pocket as he went out.
But Mrs. Quirk was determined to know. She had noted the frown on her
husband's face, and gathered from it that he was reading ill news.
"Just slip out, Honey, and ask Joe for his copy. I must know the worst,"
she said to Kathleen.
"Mr. Quirk does not wish you to know," Kathleen suggested.
"Not knowing is worse than the very illest news. I will be in a fever
until I hear. Just run away and do what I ask of you."
Kathleen recognised that Mrs. Quirk was determined, and wisely obeyed
without further hesitation. But when she saw the nature of the charges
she paused before reading them aloud to the old lady.
Denis Quirk, with his customary straightforwardness and honesty, had
printed the account of the scene in the Council Chambers word for word.
There it stood--his own accusation and the counter-charges urged against
him. He had attempted neither palliation nor excuse. But in the same
issue of "The Mercury" he had reproduced the account of the proceedings
in the Golden Vale Court, that had ended in his acquittal. More than
this, he had reprinted the apology of "The Investigator," as it had
appeared in that paper.
But to Kathleen and to Mrs. Quirk the account of the divorce proceedings
was the most serious indictment against Denis, and here he offered
neither denial nor excuse. Both women held firmly to the belief that
marriage is sacred and irrevocable, and that no human power--nothing
short of death--can annul the bond uniting man and wife.
Fearing to hurt her old friend, Kathleen attempted to avoid this part of
the accusation. But she was a bad dissembler, and Mrs. Quirk very keen.
"There is something more, Honey. Let me hear all that those backbiters
found to say," she urged.
When she had learned the full account of the charges, she burst out into
lamentation.
"To think of it!" she cried. "Denis, the apple of my eye, to be in that
Divorce Court! It is, for sure, the wickedest place ever invented by
man--and him there!"
"But he did not appear," said Kathleen.
"And them saying all those things against him! Where was he, then, if
not giving them back the lie? I don't believe it, not one word of it
all. He has his enemies, and they have invented this. Oh, why isn't
Father Healy here to advise me?"
"Why not go and ask Denis?" suggested Kathleen. "He will tell you the
truth."
"Do you believe he did what they say of him?"
Kathleen looked out at the bright sky flecked with white clouds, at the
green lawns, and the masses of colour in the flower-beds. The sun was
shining brightly, scores of birds uniting in melody, music, brightness
and peace everywhere.
"I would almost as soon believe that this world was not created by
Almighty God," she answered, without disrespect, for she had a profound
trust in Denis Quirk.
"God bless you, Honey! Then why should I be doubting him? I will go and
speak to the boy. Sure, he never yet lied to me. If he has sinned, the
Lord forgive him. And what am I to judge him?"
The motor was ordered at once, and in a short space of time it carried
Mrs. Quirk and Kathleen to "The Mercury" office. Tim O'Neill was in the
outer office, bright-faced and very busy, as was his custom. He welcomed
the ladies with a smile.
"Is Denis in?" asked Mrs. Quirk.
"Mr. Quirk? Yes, he is in. Were you wanting to see him?" Tim replied.
"Who else?" said Mrs. Quirk.
"I will stay here and talk to Tim," suggested Kathleen. "That is, if Tim
can spare the time."
Tim was a gallant youth, and he answered blushingly that it was an
honour and pleasure to speak to Miss O'Connor. Meanwhile Mrs. Quirk
entered her son's room.
Denis Quirk was reckoning up the consequences of the last night's
proceedings, and considering the best method of carrying on the
campaign. As his mother entered he looked up with a frown, that changed
into a smile when he saw who his visitor was.
He had constantly urged her to inspect the office, but she had always
refused to come.
"Sure, you are busy; and what would you be doing with an old body like
me?" she was accustomed to say.
"So you have come to visit me at last?" he cried.
"I have come to talk to you, because I could not wait until you had come
home," she answered. "What is this in the paper?"
He had hoped that she might not hear of his trouble, knowing how seldom
she interested herself in the contents of a paper.
"Who has been telling you?" he asked.
"Who but himself at first, and when he would not satisfy me I ordered
Kathleen to read it to me," she answered. "Oh, Denis, the shame of it!
That anyone should dare say that you were a divorced man!"
"It's the truth, mother," he answered through his teeth.
"You, the son I was always proud of, to be going into a place like that!
It is a shame that there should be such iniquitous places in a Christian
land!" she cried.
Denis put his hand very gently on her shoulder in a caressing manner
that was out of keeping with his accustomed attitude.
"See here, mother," he answered, "a man can only be judged in the light
of the Eternal Truth. In that light I am innocent."
"Then why not prove them liars that have spoken these things against
you?" she asked.
"Someone had to suffer, and I could best bear it. I am a man, a strong,
hard piece of humanity, and well able to stand a few bad names. But
there are others, weak and frail, who would be destroyed by the scandal
of bitter tongues. Better the world should abuse me than them. Some day
I shall stand innocent in the eyes of the world as in the sight of God."
"Then it is all lies?" she asked, looking into his brave, ugly face.
"It is true that I was divorced, and true that I am innocent," he
answered.
"I believe you," she cried, throwing her arms around his neck and
kissing him. "My heart is light again. Little I care what people may say
or think when I know it is false. Sure, there is only one that can truly
judge us, Almighty God, and to Him I will go and return thanks."
She went smilingly out of the office, and Kathleen recognised that
Denis Quirk had proved his innocence to his mother's satisfaction.
Ebenezer Brown seized the opportunity for reviving "The Observer" with
Gerard as editor. In capability and brilliance he was not to be compared
with Cairns, but the public marked its disapprobation of Denis Quirk by
supporting "The Observer" and neglecting its rival. Day by day the
circulation and the advertisements of "The Mercury" dwindled until at
last Denis Quirk summoned a meeting of those interested in his paper.
"If we intend to win out, I must go," he said. "The public has awoke to
a sense of virtue and selected me for punishment. It has blundered on
the wrong man, but that does not make the case any better. When I have
gone, "The Mercury" will return to its own and destroy 'The Observer'."
"I say stay in Grey Town and fight it out," said Dr. Marsh. "I am
prepared to put my last penny into the paper."
Samuel Quirk was there with Dr. Marsh, Cairns, and the staff of the
paper, right down to Tim O'Neill.
"Would you be running away?" Samuel Quirk asked indignantly, "with me to
help you fight the blackguards? You, an Irishman, whose fathers have
battled for independence in the dark days as in the fine ones? No, Denis
you will remain here and trample 'The Observer' under your feet once
again."
"I don't need any pay, sir," said Tim O'Neill. "I'll work for nothing,
just for the love of you and the old 'Mercury'."
"Good boy, Tim! You are gold from the hair of your head to the soles of
your feet. But I shall go to Melbourne and open out there. Once I am
out, 'The Mercury' will have a fair run, and Ebenezer Brown, Gerard, and
Garnett will be sorry they invested their money in a hopeless cause. You
shall buy me out, Dad."
The day before Denis Quirk's departure he found Kathleen alone in the
dining room.
"Miss O'Connor," he said, speaking less confidently than was his custom.
"I am not an idealist. As a general rule I class men and women as bad or
indifferent, but I have a great respect for you, and I want you to
believe in me."
"I do," cried Kathleen eagerly.
"Men have been tried and convicted on false evidence," he went on. "The
world judges us by results, but I want you to disregard the past and
take my word that I am innocent."
"I have always believed it," she said.
"Thank you," he said, and was turning away when Kathleen said:
"You are going to Melbourne, Mr. Quirk. I place Desmond in your hands.
Bring him back to the Faith."
"I shall do my best, but no man can constrain another. Desmond must work
out his own salvation," he answered.
When his business was completed, Denis Quirk departed from Grey Town.
But Ebenezer Brown and his satellites discovered that his absence made
things even more uncomfortable for them than had been the case during
his presence in the town. "The Mercury" rose buoyantly to resume its old
power; and in a month's time it had crippled its rival beyond recovery.
Samuel Quirk took his son's place on the Council, and there asserted
himself so triumphantly that Councillor Garnett recognised that it was
time for him to retire. Grey Town awoke to sudden municipal vigour, and
the town put on a modern, up-to-date appearance, in keeping with a new
commercial activity. Those who had flourished under the old system
retired to their holes, impotently cursing the new regime. Their triumph
over Denis Quirk had proved a veritable disaster to Ebenezer Brown and
his companions in evil.