Nothing happened, however, to justify Drummond's fears. The success of
Rivers's in its new form was as great and as steady to all appearance as
that of its ancient phase. People vied with each other in rushing into
it, in crowding its coffers and its share lists. Stephen Haldane, 'left
to himself,' according to Mr Burton's instructions, had long since
deposited all he had in its hands; and almost all of Robert's
professional friends who had any money to invest, invested it in the
bank which had an R.A. upon the roll of directors. People came to him to
ask his advice who in other times would have given him theirs freely,
with no such respect for his judgment. But though this was the case, and
though ignorant persons in society sometimes wondered how he could make
the two occupations compatible, and carry on business and art together,
yet the fact was that business and Robert had very little to do with
each other. He went to the meetings of the directors now and then. He
was blandly present sometimes at an auditing of accounts. He listened at
times to the explanations given by Mr Golden, the manager, and found
them everything that was reasonable and wise. But beyond that he cannot
be said to have taken much part in the management. For this mild part he
was abundantly rewarded--so abundantly that he sometimes felt half
ashamed, reflecting that the clerks in the offices actually contributed
more to the success of the place than he did, though they did not profit
half so much. He felt himself justified in taking a nice house in the
country, though not at Dura, at the end of the first season, and he gave
his wife a pretty little carriage with two ponies on her birthday, in
which she drove about with a pleasure perhaps more real than that which
any other circumstance of their prosperity gave her. They did not leave
their house in St Mary's Road, for it was dear to them in many ways, and
still satisfied all their wants; and Robert could not tolerate the idea
of another painter using the studio he had built, or another woman
enjoying the conservatory which had been made for Helen. 'However rich
we may grow--even if we should ever be able to afford that house in Park
Lane--we must keep this,' he said; 'no profane foot must come in, no
stranger intrude upon our household gods; and Norah must have it after
us, the house she was born in.' Thus they planned their gentle romance,
though they had been a dozen years married and more, and bought the
house they loved with their first disposable money. And Robert still
loved his work and kept to it, though he did not need now to trouble
about the exhibitions and push on his picture, working from the early
morning down to twilight to get it ready. He got a little lazy about
finished pictures, to tell the truth. Even Francesca, though he loved
her, had been put aside on the spare easel, and never completed. 'I will
get up early and set to work in earnest to-morrow,' he always said; but
to-morrow generally found him like the day before, making a study of
something--sketching in now one subject, now another--tormenting his
wife with questions as to which was best. She had a good deal to put up
with in this period; but she kept up under it and bore it all smilingly.
And Robert, like so many more, made his sketches much better than his
pictures, and put ideas upon his canvas which, if he could but have
carried them out, might have been great.
Thus two years passed over the pair; and there were times when Helen
thought, with a leap of her heart, that ease and leisure had done what
care and toil could not do--had roused a spark of divine genius in her
husband's breast. Now and then he drew something that went right to her
heart, and it was she who had always been his harshest critic. When she
said to him one day suddenly, without purpose or meaning, 'I like that,
Robert,' he turned round upon her all flushed and glowing, more radiant
than when he was made an R.A. It was not that he had supreme confidence
in her knowledge of art, but that her backing of him, the support which
he had longed for all these years, was more than the highest applause,
and invigorated his very soul. But he was so pleased to have pleased
her, that he set up his sketch upon a bigger canvas, and worked at it
and improved it till he had improved the soul out of it, and Helen
applauded no more. He was much mortified and disappointed at this
failure; but then in his humility he said to himself, 'What does it
matter now? I am an R.A., which is the best I could be in my profession,
so far as the world is concerned, and we have something else to stand
upon besides the pictures.' Thus he consoled himself, and so did she.
And, in the mean time, Norah kept growing, and became a more distinct
feature in the household. She was a feature more than an agent still;
though she was nearly twelve, not much was heard of her except the
scales, which she still rattled over dutifully every morning, and the
snatches of songs she would sing in the lightness of her heart as she
went or came. On most ordinary occasions she simply composed such a
foreground to the family picture as Maurice had seen that October night.
She sat on a stool or on the floor somewhere, with a book clasped in her
arms, reading; in summer she and her book together crouched themselves
against the window in the room, getting the last gleam of daylight, and
in winter she read by the firelight, which crimsoned her all over with a
ruddy glow, and scorched her cheeks. Perhaps it was because she was kept
conscientiously at work all day that Norah thus devoured all the books
she could lay hands on in the evenings. She sat in her corner and read,
and heard what was going on all the same, and took no notice. She read
everything, from Grimm's Tales and the Arabian Nights to Shakspere, and
from Shakspere to Tennyson, with an undiscriminating, all-devouring
appetite; and as she sat in a dream, lost in one volume after another,
the current of life flowed past, and she was aware of it, and heard a
hundred things she was unconscious of hearing, yet remembered years
after. She heard discussions between her father and mother which she was
supposed to pay no attention to. And she did not pay any attention to
them: but only innocently--an unconscious eavesdropper--heard
everything, and received it into her mind. This was the child's position
in the house; she was the centre of the picture--everything somehow bore
a reference to her; she alone was silent in the midst. The other
two--who loved her, talked of her, planned for her, contrived that
everything that was pretty and pleasant and sweet should surround her
waking and sleeping--had yet no immediate need of Norah. They were each
other's companions, and she was the third--the one left out. But she was
too young to feel any jealousy, or to struggle for a place between them.
She had her natural place, always in the foreground, a silent creature,
unconsciously observing, laying up provision for her life.
'Are you not afraid to talk of everything before your daughter?' Mr
Golden said one day when she had left the room. 'You know the old
proverb, "Little pitchers have long ears."'
'Afraid of--Norah?' said Robert. The idea was so extraordinary that he
laughed first, though the moment after he felt disposed to be angry. 'My
child understands what honour is, though she is so young,' he said with
paternal pride, and then laughed, and added, 'That is high-flown of
course, but you don't understand her, Golden; how should you? She is a
thousand times too deeply occupied to care for what we are saying.
Pardon me, but the suggestion, to one who knows her, is so very absurd.'
'Ah, you never know where simplicity ends and sense begins,' said the
bank manager. He had become a frequent guest at St Mary's Road. He was a
man of Mr Burton's type, but younger, slightly bald, perfectly brushed,
clean, and perfumed, and decorous. He was a little too heavy for the
_rôle_ of a young man in society: and yet he danced and flirted with the
best when an opportunity offered. He never spoke of the City when he
could help it: but he spoke a great deal about Lady So-and-so's party,
and the fine people he knew. It was difficult to make out how he knew
them; but yet he visited, or professed to visit, at a great many of what
are called 'good houses.' As manager of the bank he had every man's
good opinion--he was at once so enterprising and so prudent, with the
most wonderful head for business. There was no one like him for
interpreting the 'movements' on the Stock Exchange, or the fluctuations
of the Funds. He explained business matters so lucidly that even
Drummond understood them, or at least thought he did. But there were a
good many people who did not like Mr Golden. Helen for one had a natural
antipathy to the man. She allowed that she had no reason for it; that he
was very civil, sometimes amusing, and had never done anything she could
find fault with. But she disliked him all the same. Norah was more
decided in her sentiments, and had a clearer foundation for them. He had
insisted on disturbing her from her book one afternoon to shake hands
with her; on another he had offered to kiss her, as a child, and she
nearly twelve! 'But then you are so little of your age, Miss Norah. I
dare say the gentleman took you for nine,' said the maid--an explanation
which did not render Norah more favourably inclined towards the manager.
And now he was trying to libel her, to traduce her to her father! Even
Robert himself was moved by this enormity; it shook his opinion of his
counsellor. 'That is all he knows,' Drummond said to himself; and he
resumed his conversation more distinctly than ever when Norah came back.
In the mean time the Haldanes had thriven too, in their way. Stephen was
as helpless, as far from any hope of moving, as ever; but he was well
off, which alleviates much suffering. The walls of his room were hung
with Drummond's sketches, half a dozen of them, among which were two
pictures of Norah. He lived in an arm-chair elaborately fitted with
every possible contrivance, with a reading-desk attached to its arm, and
a table close by, which could be raised to any height: and his helpless
limbs were covered with a silken quilt of Mrs Haldane's own working.
There he passed the day and night without change: but thanks to Miss
Jane and her mother, no strange eye had looked upon the helpless man's
humiliation; they moved him from his chair to his bed, and did
everything for him. The bed was closed up by day, so that no stranger
might suspect its existence; and the room was kept airy and bright by
the same unwearied watchers. Here he lived, making no complaint.
Whatever his feelings might be, whatever the repinings in his mind, he
said nothing of them to mortal ear. A shade of weariness the more upon
his face, a deeper line than usual between his eyes, were the only
tokens that now and then the deep waters overflowed his soul. And as for
the mother and sister, who were his slaves and attendants, they had
forgotten that there was anything unusual in his condition--they had
become accustomed to it. It seemed to them in some sort the course of
nature. And God knows whether unconsciously a feeling that it was 'for
the best' might not sometimes steal into their minds. He was theirs for
ever; no one could step in between them, or draw his heart from their
love. Had it been suggested to Miss Jane that such a sentiment was
possible, she would have rejected it with horror; and yet in the depths
of her heart it was there, out of her own sight.
And he had an occupation in his seclusion which was a blessing to him.
He had become the editor of a little magazine, which belonged to his
'denomination,' before he fell ill, and he had been allowed to retain
the post. This was the refuge of his mind in his trouble. Poor Stephen,
he pleased himself with the idea of still influencing somebody, of
preserving his intercourse with the outer world. It had been a very
homely little publication when it came into his hands--a record of what
the 'denomination' was doing; the new chapels it was building; the
prayer-meetings gathered here and there, which might grow into
congregations; and the tea-parties, which furnished at once intellectual
and social enjoyment for the people. But Stephen had changed that; he
had put his mind into it, and worked it into a sort of literary organ.
There were reviews in it, and essays, and a great deal of discussion of
the questions of the day. These were approached from the standing-ground
of the denomination, it is true, but the discussions were often far from
being denominational. Up to this time, however, the community gave no
signs of disapproval. Mr Baldwin favoured the magazine, and the writer
of it was still popular, and not yet forgotten. They gave him some fifty
pounds a year for this hard though blessed work which kept his mind
alive; and his late congregation gave him fifty pounds; and the money in
Rivers's bank had last quarter paid ten per cent. of profit. He was well
off, he was indeed rich for his wants, though he was not rolling in
wealth like Drummond. Money makes no man happy, but how much good it
does! Nothing could make this poor man happy, rooted thus in his
immovable calm; but his ten per cent. kept him in comfort, it gave him
worship in the eyes of his people, who were not fond of poverty; it
procured to him his only consolation. He had no need to be indebted to
any one; he could even help the poor people of his former flock, and
feel himself independent. He could buy books, and give such quiet
comforts and pleasures as they could enjoy to the women who were so good
to him. All these were great alleviations of the sick man's lot. But for
Rivers's how different would his position have been! He would have been
subject to the constant inspection of deacons and brethren; he would
have been interfered with in respect to his magazine. All the comfort
and freedom which remained to him were the result of the little more
which made him independent and put him above criticism. What a poor
thing money is, which cannot buy either health or happiness! and yet
what a great thing! only the poor know how great.
This time of prosperity had lasted for two years, when Mr Burton
withdrew from the direction of the bank. He had enlarged his business
greatly in another way, and had no longer time to bestow upon this; and,
indeed, he had professed all along his desire to be free. This had been
the object of the old company in taking in 'new blood,' and now the new
company was able to proceed alone upon its triumphant way.
'It is your turn to get into harness, Drummond,' he said, with a glance
in which there was some contempt. Robert did not see the scorn, but he
laughed with perhaps a little gentle confidence in his own power to be
of use if he should choose to exert himself.
'I must put myself into training first,' he said.
'Golden will do that for you. Golden is the best coach for business I
have ever come across,' said Mr Burton. 'He will put you up to
everything, good and bad--the dodges as well as the legitimate line.
Golden is not a common man of business--he is a great artist in trade.'
There was a certain elation in his air and words. Was he glad to have
shaken off the bonds of Rivers's, though they were golden bonds? This
was the question which Helen asked herself with a little surprise. The
two men were dining at St Mary's Road on the night after Burton's
withdrawal, and she was still at table, though they had begun to talk of
business. As usual, she who took no part was the one most instructed by
the conversation. But she was bewildered, not instructed, by this. She
could not make out what it meant. She knew by the best of all proofs
that the bank was profitable and flourishing. Why, then, did her cousin
show such high spirits? What was his elation about? Long after, she
remembered that she had noted this, and then was able to divine the
mystery. But now it only surprised her vaguely, like a foreign phrase in
the midst of the language she knew.
'The dodges are amusing,' said Mr Golden. 'The legitimate drama is more
dignified and imposing, but I rather think there is more fun in the work
when you are living on the very edge of ruin. The hairbreadth escapes
one has--the sense that it is one's own cleverness that carries one
through--the delight of escaping from the destruction that seemed down
upon you! There is nothing like that,' he said with a laugh, 'in the
steady platitudes of ordinary trade.'
And Mr Burton laughed too, and a glance passed between them, such as
might have passed between two old soldiers who had gone many a campaign
together. There was a twinkle in their eyes, and the 'Do you remember?'
seemed to be on their very lips. But then they stopped short, and went
no further. Helen, still vaguely surprised, had to get up and go away
to the drawing-room; and what more experiences these two might exchange,
or whether her husband would be any the wiser for them, she was no
longer able to see. Norah waited her in the other room. She had just
come to the end of a book, and, putting it down with a sigh, came and
sat by her mother's side. They were alike in general features and
complexion, though not in the character of their faces. Norah's hair was
brighter, and her expression less stately and graceful than Helen's--she
had not so much _distinction_, but she had more life. Such a woman as
her mother she was never likely to be, but her attractions would be
great in her own way.
'How nice your velvet gown is, mamma!' said Norah, who was given to long
monologues when she spoke at all. 'I like to put my cheek upon it. When
I am grown up, I will always wear black velvet in winter, and white
muslin in summer. They are the nicest of all. I do not think that you
are too old for white. I like you in white, with red-ribbons. When I am
a little bigger I should like to dress the same as you, as if we were
two sisters. Mayn't we? Everybody says you look so young. But, mamma,
ain't you glad to get away from those men, and come in here to me?'
'You vain child!' said Helen. 'I can see you whenever I like, so it is
no novelty to me; while papa's friends--'
'Do you think they are papa's friends? I suppose there are no villains
now-a-days, like what there are in books?' said Norah. 'The world is
rather different from books somehow. There you can always see how
everything happens; and there is always somebody clever enough to find
out the villains. Villains themselves are not very clever, they always
let themselves be found out.'
'But, my dear, we are not talking of villains,' said Helen.
'No, mamma, only of that Mr Golden. I _hate_ him! If you and I were
awfully clever, and could see into him, what he means--'
'You silly little girl! You have read too many novels,' said Helen. 'In
the world people are often selfish, and think of their own advantage
first; but they don't try to ruin others out of pure malice, as they do
in stories. Even Norah Drummond sometimes thinks of herself first. I
don't know if she is aware of it, but still it happens; and though it is
not always a sin to do that, still it is the way that most sins come
about.'
This purely maternal and moral turn of the conversation did not amuse
Norah. She put her arm round her mother's waist, and laid her cheek
against the warm velvet of Helen's gown.
'Mamma, it is not fair to preach when no one is expecting it,' she said
in an injured tone; 'and just when I have you all to myself! I don't
often have you to myself. Papa thinks you belong to him most. Often and
often I want to come and talk, but papa is so greedy: you ought to think
you belong to me too.'
'But, my darling, you have always a book,' said Helen, not insensible to
the sweet flattery.
'When I can't have you, what else am I to do?' said crafty Norah; and
when the gentlemen came into the drawing-room, the two were still
sitting together, talking of a hundred things. Mr Golden came up, and
tried very hard to be admitted into the conversation, but Norah walked
away altogether, and went into her favourite corner, and Mrs Drummond
did not encourage his talk. She looked at him with a certain flutter of
excited curiosity, wondering if there was anything under that smooth
exterior which was dangerous and meant harm; and smiled at herself and
said, No, no; enemies and villains exist only in books. The worst of
this man would be that he would pursue his own ends, let them suffer who
might; and his own ends could not harm Drummond--or so at least Helen
thought.