O, WICKED WIT AND GIFT.
Hamlet; i.--5.
It was fortunate for Fenton's plans that most of his guests had early
engagements that evening, and by nine o'clock he was able to leave the
house with Rangely to take his way to the meeting of the Club. As they
came out of the house, Thayer Kent was just saying good-by to Miss Mott
after putting her into her carriage. Fenton's fear lest he should be
too late for the business meeting had made him follow rather closely in
the steps of his departing guests, and he and Rangely were just in time
to hear Ethel say,--
"But I am going that way and I will drop you at the club."
Kent hesitated an instant, and then followed her into the carriage.
Fenton laughed as they drove away.
"With Ethel Mott," he said, "that is equivalent to announcing an
engagement."
"Nonsense!" protested Fred, incredulously.
Fenton laughed again, a little maliciously.
"Oh, I've been looking for it all winter," he said. "Ever since you
devoted yourself to Mrs. Staggchase, and gave Thayer his innings. Well,
since you didn't want her, I don't know that she could have done
better."
Fenton pretty well understood the truth of the matter in regard to
Rangely's relations to Ethel, and this little thrust was simply an
instalment toward the paying of sundry old scores. He had never
forgiven Fred for having taunted him, long ago, with going over to
Philistinism; especially, as he inwardly assured himself, that the
difference between their cases was that he had had the frankness openly
to renounce Paganism, while his companion would not acknowledge his
apostasy even to himself. In Fenton's creed, self-deception was put
down as the greatest of crimes, and he had fallen into the way of half
unconsciously regarding his inner frankness as a sort of expiation for
whatever faults he might commit.
He chuckled inwardly at the discomfort which he knew his remark brought
to Fred, humorously acknowledging himself to be a brute for thus taking
advantage of circumstances with a man who had just eaten his salt. The
excitement of the thing he was about to do had mounted into his head
like wine, and he hastened toward the club with a feeling of buoyancy
and exhilaration such as he had not known for months. He laughed and
joked, ignoring Rangely's unresponsiveness; and when he entered the
club parlors his cheeks were flushed and his eyes shone as in the old
Pagan days.
He was just in season. The monthly business meeting was about being
completed, and Fenton had scarcely time to recover his breath before
the President said,--
"If there is no other business to come before this meeting we will now
adjourn."
Then Fenton stepped forward.
"Mr. President," he said, in his smooth, clear voice, only a trifle
heightened in pitch by excitement.
The President put up his eyeglasses and recognized him.
"Mr. Fenton."
There was an instant hush in the room. Every member of the club knew of
the vote of censure, which had excited much talk, and of which the
propriety had been violently discussed. A few were aware that the
censure had been withdrawn, and all were sufficiently well acquainted
with Fenton's high-spirited temperament to feel that something exciting
was coming.
Fenton was too keenly alive to what he would have called the stage
effect to fail of appreciating to the utmost the striking situation. He
threw up his head with a delicious sense of excitement, the pleasing
consciousness of a vain man who is producing a strong and satisfactory
impression, and who feels in himself the ability to carry through the
thing he has undertaken. With a sort of tingling double consciousness
he felt at once the enthusiasm of injured virtue at last triumphant,
and the mocking scorn of a Mephistopheles who bejuggles dupes too dull
to withstand him. He looked around the meeting, and in a swift instant
noted who of friends or foes were present; and even tried to calculate
in that brief instant what would be the effect upon one and another of
what he was going to say.
"Mr. President," he began, deliberately, "if I may be pardoned a word
of personal explanation, I wish to say that the motion I am about to
make is not presented from personal motives. I might make this motion
as one who has the right, having suffered; but I do make it as one who
believes in justice so strongly that I should still speak had my own
case been that of my worst enemy. I move you, sir, that the St. Filipe
Club pass a vote of unqualified censure upon its Executive Committee
for admitting in the investigation of an alleged violation of its rules
the testimony of a servant, thereby assuming that the word of a
gentleman could not be taken in answer to any question the committee
had a right to ask."
He had grown pale with excitement as he went on, and his voice gained
in force until the last words were clear and ringing to the farthest
corners of the room.
A universal stir succeeded the silence with which he had been heard.
Half a dozen men were on their feet at once amid a babble of comment,
protestation, and approval. The Secretary managed to get the floor.
"Mr. President," he said, his round face flushed with anger, and his
fat hands so shaking with excitement that the papers on the table
before him rustled audibly, "since it must be evident that the
gentleman's remarks are instigated by anger at the committee's
treatment of himself, it is only justice to the committee to state what
many of the members may not know, that a letter of ample apology has
been sent by them to Mr. Fenton."
The men who had been eager to speak paused at this, and everybody
looked at the artist.
"Mr. President," he said, with a delightful sense of having himself
perfectly in hand, and of being in an unassailable position, "I have
been insulted by the committee under cover of a charge which they now
acknowledge to be false; and, contrary to the usage of the club, a
printed notice of this has been sent to every member. I have received a
note of apology from the Secretary."
He paused just long enough to let those who were taking sides against
him emphasize their satisfaction at this acknowledgment by
half-suppressed exclamations; then, in a voice of cutting smoothness,
he continued,--
"At the head of that note was the word 'confidential,' which forbade
me, as a gentleman, to show it. This was evidently the committee's idea
of reparation for the outrage of that printed circular."
He paused again, and the impression that he was making was evident from
the fact that nobody attempted to deprive him of the floor; then he
went on again,--
"I have already said that my motion was not a personal matter; if my
case serves as an illustration, so much the better, as long as the
principle is enforced."
"The motion," interposed the President, gathering his wits together,
"has not been seconded, and is therefore not debatable."
"I second it," roared Tom Bently in his big voice, adding _sotto voce_:
"We won't let the fun be spoiled for a little thing like that."
The half laugh that followed this sally seemed to recall men from the
state of astonishment into which they had been thrown by the audacity
of Fenton's attack. There were plenty of men to speak now;--men who
thought Fenton's position absurd;--men who believed in upholding the
dignity of the Executive Committee;--men, more revolutionary, who were
always pleased to see the existing order of things attacked;--men who
wanted explanations, and men who offered them;--men who rose to points
of order, and men who proposed amendments; with the inevitable men who
are always in a state of oratorical effervescence and who speak upon
every occasion, quite without reference to having anything to say.
Fenton was keenly alive to everything that was said, and in his
excitement fell into the mood not uncommon with people of his
temperament of regarding the whole debate from an almost impersonal
standpoint. His sense of humor was constantly appealed to, and he
laughed softly to himself with a feeling of amusement scarcely tinged
by concern for the result of the contest when Mr. Ranger, stately and
ponderous, got upon his feet. He could have told with reasonable
precision the inconsequent remarks which were to come; and the
interruption which they made appealed to his sense of the ludicrous as
strongly as it irritated many impatient members.
"I am confident," began Mr. Ranger with dignified deliberation, "that
all the excitement which seems to be manifest in many of the remarks
that have been made is wholly uncalled for. I am sure no member of this
club can suppose for an instant that its Executive Committee can have
intentionally been guilty of any discourtesy, and far less of any wrong
to a member. And we all have too much confidence in their ability to
suppose that they could fall into error in so important a thing as a
matter of discipline. And I need not add," he went on, not even the
real respect in which he was held being able wholly to suppress the
movement of impatience with which he was heard, "that we all must hold
Mr. Fenton not only as blameless but as painfully aggrieved."
"Mr. Facing-both-ways," said Fenton to himself as the speaker paused,
apparently to consider what could be added to his lucid exposition of
the situation.
One or two men had the hardihood to rise, but the President had too
much respect for Mr. Ranger's hoary locks to deprive him of the floor.
"It seems to me," the speaker continued, placidly, "that this is a
matter which is better adjusted in private. The discipline of the club
must be maintained, and individual feeling should be respected; but
where we all have the welfare of the club at heart, it seems to me that
members would find no difficulty in amicably adjusting their
differences with the club officials in private conference."
He gazed earnestly at the opposite wall a moment, as if seeking for
further inspiration. Then as no handwriting appeared thereon, he
resumed his seat with the same deliberate dignity that had marked his
rising.
Mr. Staggchase, alert and business-like as usual, next obtained the
floor.
"As chairman of the Executive Committee," he said, "perhaps I am too
much in the position of a prisoner at the bar for it to be in good
taste for me to speak on this motion. Naturally I do know something,
however, about the circumstances of this case, and I am willing to say
frankly that I cannot blame Mr. Fenton for feeling aggrieved at the
painful position in which he has been placed entirely without fault on
his part. It is only just to the committee, however, to state that the
charge as presented to them in the first place was supported by
evidence which appeared to them convincing; that Mr. Fenton never
denied it; and that I and, I presume, every member of the committee
supposed until this evening that the letter of apology sent him had
been ample and satisfactory. That it was marked 'confidential' was
certainly not the fault of the committee, who now learn this fact for
the first time."
This statement evidently produced a strong impression. Fenton felt that
it told against him, yet he was more irritated at what he considered
the stupidity of the members in not seeing that Mr. Staggchase had not
touched upon the point at issue at all, than he was by the injury done
to his cause. In the midst of the excitement raging about him he sat,
outwardly perfectly calm and collected. He refused to admit to himself
that after all there was little probability of his motion's being
carried; although in truth at the outset he had intended nothing more
than to take this striking method of stating his grievance against the
committee. He was amused and delighted at the commotion he had caused.
He likened himself to the man who had sown the dragon's teeth, and
while listening keenly to what was being said, he rummaged about in his
memory for the name of that doughty classic hero.
It was with a shock that it came upon him all at once that the tide was
turning against him. There had been warm expressions of sympathy with
himself and of disapprobation at the course of the committee; and Grant
Herman had announced his intention of offering another motion, when
this should have been disposed of, to the effect that a printed notice
of the removal of the vote of censure be sent to each member of the
club; but it was evident that there was a general feeling that Fenton's
attitude was too extreme. The club was evidently willing to exonerate
him and to offer such reparation as lay in its power, but it was not
prepared formally to rebuke its committee. The debate had continued
nearly an hour, and speakers were beginning to say the same things over
and over. At the farther end of the room some men began to call
"question." The word brought Fenton to his feet like the lash of a
whip; he put his hands upon his chest as if he were panting for breath,
his eyes were fairly blazing with excitement, and when he spoke his
voice shook with the intensity of his emotion.
"Mr. President," he began, "it seems to me that the honor of this club
is in question. It had not occurred to me to regard this so much a
personal affront as an insult to the club which has elected me to its
membership. It is forced upon me by the remarks that have been made to
look at the personal side of the matter. Gentlemen have been insisting
that I am seeking reparation for an insult which they acknowledge has
been offered me; which they acknowledge has been gratuitous, and to
which all the publicity has been given which lay within the power of
the officers of this club. Very well, then, far as it was from my
original intention, I present my personal grievance and I claim
redress. The vote of censure which the committee has passed upon me I
regard as merely a stupid and offensive blunder; the implication
conveyed by listening to a servant in relation to a charge against a
member is an insult to him as a gentleman, which, to me personally,
seems too intolerable to be endured. I came into this club as to a body
of gentlemen, and I have a right to claim at your hands that I shall be
treated as such by its officers."
Fenton had many enemies in the St. Filipe, but the splendid dash and
audacity of his manner, even more than his words, produced a tremendous
effect. There was an instant's hush as he ended, and then the voice of
Tom Bently, big and vibrating, rang through the room in defiance of all
rules of order and of all the proprieties as well.
"By God! He is right!" said Tom, and a burst of applause answered him.
The day was won, and although there were a few protests, they were
silenced by cries of "Question! Question!" and the motion was carried
by a majority which, if not overwhelming, was large enough to be
without question.
"The motion is carried," announced the president.
Fenton rose to his feet again.
"Gentlemen," he said, "I cannot resist the temptation personally to
thank you. Mr. President, I have now the honor to tender you my
resignation from the St. Filipe Club."
He bowed and turned to walk from the room. He was full of a wild
exultation over his success, and he reasoned quickly with himself that
even if his resignation were accepted, he retired in good order. He
had, too, a half-defined feeling that in thus tempting fate still
further, he made a sort of expiatory offering for his actual guilt. He
said to himself, with that lightning-like quickness which thought
possesses in a crisis, that since the principle for which he contended
stood above the question of his individual transgression, it was but
just that the motion should have been carried, and that now he was
ready to take his punishment by losing his membership in the St. Filipe.
But before he had gone half a dozen steps, two or three men had called
out impulsively,--
"Mr. President! I move this resignation be not accepted."
There were plenty of men there who would gladly have seen Fenton leave
the club; the members of the Executive Committee were smarting under
the rebuke he had brought upon them; but the excitement of the moment,
the admiration which courage and dash always excite, carried all before
them. The motion was voted with noise enough to make it at least seem
hearty, and with no outspoken negatives to prevent its appearing
unanimous. His friends dragged him back and insisted upon drinking with
him, the formalities of adjournment being swallowed up in the uproar.
His triumph could not have been more complete, and its celebration,
with much discussion, much congratulation and not a little wine, lasted
until midnight.
And all the while, as he talked and jested and argued and laughed and
drank, his brain was playing with the question of right and wrong as a
child with a shuttlecock. Without a hearty conviction of the absolute
justice of the principle for which he contended, it is doubtful if
Fenton could have acted the lie of assumed innocence. He had entangled
the question of his guilt with that of the propriety of the action of
the committee so inextricably that one could scarcely be taken up
without the other. He admired himself as an actor, he approved of
himself as a logician, and he despised himself--without any
heart-burning bitterness--as a liar. He was too clear-headed to be able
to bejuggle himself with the reasoning that he had not been guilty of
falsehood because he had never specifically and in word denied the
charge of the committee. Yet with all his pride in his
self-comprehension, he really deceived himself. He supposed himself to
have been animated by the desire to establish a principle in which he
really believed, to conquer and humiliate the Secretary, and to please
himself by acting an amusing _role_; while in truth he had been
instigated by his dominant selfish instinct of self-preservation. But
he thoroughly enjoyed his triumph, and by the time he left the house he
seemed to have established himself on quite a new footing of friendship
with even the members of the Executive Committee.
As he went down the steps of the club, starting for home, Chauncy
Wilson said to him, with his usual rough jocularity,--
"I'll bet you a quarter, Fenton, you did bring Snaffle in that night,
after all. By the way, did you know that Princeton Platinum had gone
all to flinders?"