EDGECUMBE'S RESOLUTION
In spite of my excitement, I slept heavily and late, and when I awoke I
found that it was past ten o'clock. Dressing hurriedly, I rushed to
Edgecumbe's bedroom and found him not only awake, but jubilant.
'It's all right, old man,' he said. 'I am a new man. Merril has
already been here. He advises me to be quiet for a day or two, but I
am going to get up.'
'And there are no ill effects? Your mind is quite clear?'
'Clear as a bell. There is just one black ugly spot; but it doesn't
affect things.'
'Black ugly spot?' I asked anxiously.
'Yes, I'll tell you about it presently. Not that it matters.'
Throughout the day I saw very little of him, as neither his father nor
mother would allow him out of their sight. It was pathetic the way
they followed him wherever he went. I saw, too, that they were
constantly watching him, as if looking for some sign of illness or
trouble. I imagine that their joy was so sudden, so wonderful, that
they could scarcely believe their own senses. It was evident, too,
that they gloried in his career since I had met him more than two years
ago. The thought that he should have, without influence or position,
surmounted so many difficulties, and become the hero of the hour, was
wonderful beyond words. More than once I caught Lord Carbis scanning
the newspapers which contained references to him, his eyes lit up with
pride.
In spite of all this, however, I foresaw difficulties, saw, too, that
if Edgecumbe had not become radically changed, he would be a great
disappointment to his father. Would he, I wondered, stand by the words
he had uttered at the great public meeting? Would he refuse to
participate in the wealth which his father had amassed through his
connection with the trade which he believed was one of the great curses
of humanity? For it was evident that Lord Carbis was a man of strong
opinions. He had built up a great and prosperous business by
enterprise, foresight and determination. To him that business was
doubtless honourable. Through the wealth he had amassed by it, he had
become a peer of the realm. What would he say and do if his son took
the stand which, in spite of everything, I imagined he would?
Other things troubled me, too. Springfield, who was staying with St.
Mabyn, motored over early, and immediately sought Lorna Bolivick's
society. Of course Edgecumbe saw this, and I wondered how it would
affect him. I wondered, too, how Sir Thomas would regard Springfield's
suit, now that the future of his life was so materially altered. I
tried, by a study of Lorna Bolivick's face, to understand the condition
of her heart. I wondered whether she really cared for the tall,
sinister-looking man who, I judged, had evidently fascinated her.
It was not until after tea that I was able to get a few minutes' chat
with her alone. Indeed, I had a suspicion that she rather avoided me.
But seeing Springfield and St. Mabyn evidently in earnest conversation
together, I made my way to her, and asked her to come with me for a
stroll through the woods.
'Real life makes fiction tame and commonplace,' I said, as I nodded
toward Lady Carbis and Edgecumbe, who were walking arm in arm on the
lawn.
'Real life always does that,' was her reply; 'the so-called
impossibilities of melodrama are in reality the prosiest of realism.'
'I can't quite settle down to it yet,' I said. 'I can't think of
Edgecumbe as Lord Carbis's son, in spite of all we have seen. To begin
with, his name isn't Edgecumbe at all.'
'No,' she replied; 'don't you know what it is? You know who Lord
Carbis was, I suppose?'
'I know he was a brewer; but really I have not taken the trouble to
study his antecedents.'
'He was called Carbis before he was made a peer,' she replied. 'I
suppose he was largely influenced to buy the Carbis estates by the fact
that they bore his own name.'
'So that my friend is called Jack Carbis. There is so much
topsy-turvyism in it that I can hardly realize it.'
'I think Paul Edgecumbe is a much nicer name,' she said suddenly. 'I
hope--I hope----; but if--if----'
'Do you realize,' I said, 'what it will mean to him if he stands by
what he said at that meeting the other night?'
'Yes, he will still be a poor man, I suppose. But what then? Isn't he
a thousand times bigger man now than he was as the fashionable Captain
Jack Carbis?'
'Perhaps you don't realize how he would wound his father,---destroy all
his hopes and ambitions.'
'Yes, that would be rather sad; but doesn't it depend what his father's
hopes and ambitions are?'
'Lorna,' I said, 'are you and Springfield engaged?'
She did not answer me for a few seconds; then, looking at me steadily,
she said, 'Why do you ask that?'
For the moment I almost determined to tell her what I believed I knew
about Springfield, and about the things of which I had accused him.
But I felt it would not be fair. If that time ever came, he must be
there to answer my accusations.
'I think you know why,' I replied. 'The change in my friend's
circumstances has not changed my love for him. Do you know, Lorna,
that he loves you like his own life?'
She was silent at this, and I went on, 'He spoke to you about it months
ago; there in yonder footpath, not half a mile away,--he told you he
had given his heart to you. It was madness then, madness,--because he
had no name, no career, no position to offer you. His past lay in a
mist,--indeed his past might have made it impossible for him to marry
you, even if you had loved him. You refused him, told him that what he
asked was impossible; but things have changed since then,--now he is a
rich man's son,--he can come to you as an equal.'
'But--but----' and then noticing the curious look on her face, I
blurted out:
'You're not going to marry Springfield, are you?'
'Yes,' she replied, 'I shall marry Colonel Springfield, if--if----but
there,'--and she stopped suddenly,--'I think it is scarcely fair to
discuss such things.'
After that she refused to talk about Springfield at all,--indeed I
could not understand her. She seemed as though she had a great problem
to solve, and was unable to see her way through it.
I had no opportunity of talking with my friend till the next day. His
father and mother monopolized him so completely that there was no
chance of getting a word alone with him. But when Lord Carbis informed
me that he had made arrangements for Lady Carbis and his son to return
home, I made my way to him.
'Do you feel well enough for a chat?' I asked.
'Oh, quite,' he replied. 'I was waiting all yesterday for an
opportunity, but none came.'
'Edgecumbe,' I said,--'you will forgive me for still calling you that,
won't you?--but for the life of me I can't fasten on that new name of
yours.'
'Can't you? It's as natural as anything to me now. But call me Jack,
will you? I wish you would. Do you know, when I heard the old name
the night before last, I--I--but there, I can't tell you. It seemed to
open a new world to me,--all my boyhood came back, all those things
which made life wonderful. Yes, that's it, call me Jack.'
'Well, then, Jack,' I said, 'I have been wondering. Are your
experiences at that Y.M.C.A. hut real to you now?'
'Of course,' he replied quietly; 'why, they are not a matter of memory,
you know; they went down to the very depths of life.'
'And the convictions which were the result of those experiences? Do
you feel as you did about drink and that sort of thing?'
'Exactly.'
'And you will stand by what you said in London the other night?'
'Of course,--why shouldn't I?'
'I was only wondering. Do you know, Jack,--you will forgive me for
saying so, I am sure, but you present a kind of problem to me.'
'Do I?' and he laughed merrily as he spoke. 'You are wondering whether
my early associations, now that they have come back to me, are stronger
than what I have experienced since? Not a bit of it. I did a good
deal of thinking last night, after I had got to bed. You see, I tried
to work things out, and--and--it is all very wonderful, you know. I
wasn't a bad chap in the old days, by no means a pattern young man, but
on the whole I went straight,--I wasn't immoral, but I had no
religion,--I never thought about it. I had a good house-master when I
went to school, and under him I imbibed a sort of code of honour. It
didn't amount to very much, and yet it did, for he taught me to be an
English gentleman. I was always truthful, and tried to do the straight
thing. You know the kind of thing a chap picks up at a big public
school. But that night, at the Y.M.C.A. hut, I got down deep. No,
no,--early associations can't destroy that.'
'And you still hold to what you said at the meeting?'
'Absolutely. Why?'
'I was wondering how it would appeal to your father. You remember you
said that you would never benefit by, or participate in, any gain made
by drink, and your father has made most of his money as a brewer and
distiller. I wondered how you regarded it now?'
'That is quickly settled,' he replied; 'I shall not benefit by it, of
course.'
'Do you mean that?'
'Of course I mean it. Mind, I don't want it talked about,--that is a
matter between my father and my own conscience, and one can't talk
about such things freely.'
'Surely you are very foolish,' I said. 'Why should you not use the
money which will naturally come to you?'
'I don't say I won't _use_ it,' he replied, 'but I will not benefit by
it.'
'You mean, then----?'
'I mean that I was a poor man, with nothing but my pay, and that I _am_
a poor man, with nothing but my pay. Thinking as I think, and feeling
as I feel, I could not become a rich man by money got in--that is, by
such means.'
He spoke quietly and naturally, although he seemed a little surprised
by my question.
'What will your father say when he knows?'
'I think he _does_ know. He asked me whether I stood by what I said in
London.'
'And you told him?'
'Of course I told him.'
'And he,--what did he say?'
'He didn't say anything.'
'Jack,' I went on, 'you must forgive me talking about this, but I only
do it, because--you see, we are pals.'
'Of course we are pals. Say what you like.'
'It is all summed up in one name--Lorna.'
A new light came into his eyes immediately, and I saw that his lips
became tremulous.
'Yes, what of her?'
'Springfield still means to have her,' I blurted out.
A curious look passed over his face, a look which I could not
understand. 'Do you know,' he asked eagerly, 'if she is engaged to
him?'
'I gather, that so far, there is no engagement, but I believe there is
an understanding. He had obtained Sir Thomas's consent, but they were
both under the impression at the time that Springfield was your
father's heir. Of course, your turning up in such a way makes it a bit
rough on Springfield.'
'I shall have a good deal to tell you about Springfield presently,' he
said, 'but you have something in your mind. What is it?'
'It is very simple,' I replied. 'If there is no engagement between
Lorna and Springfield, and if you come to her as your father's heir,
you will of course be an eligible suitor. If you hold by your
determination, you are just where you were. How could you ask her to
marry you on the pay of a major in the Army? It would not be fair; it
would not be honourable.'
'If she loves me, it would be honourable,' he said.
'How could it be honourable for you, with just a major's pay, to go to
a girl reared as she has been,--a girl as attractive as she is, and who
has only to hold up her finger to a man like Buller, who will own one
of the finest estates in Devonshire? You have no right to drag her
into poverty, even if she cared for you.'
He rose to his feet, and took a turn across the lawn. 'I see what is
in your mind, but my dear Luscombe,'--and then he burst out into a
laugh, a laugh that was sad, because it had a touch of hopelessness in
it,--'I am afraid we are talking in the clouds,--I am afraid Lorna
doesn't love me. If she does, she has shown no sign of it.'
'But are you going to let her go without a struggle?'
He looked at me with flashing eyes. 'I thought you knew me better than
that,' he said. 'No, I am going to fight for her, fight to the very
last. But if she will not have me as I am,--if she will not have me
without my father's money, which I will not take, then--then----'
'You'll see her marry Springfield? I say, Jack, you know all we have
thought and said about Springfield?'
'I have something to tell you about Springfield,' he said quietly.