Curiously enough, there stands within view of the new Palace another
house with a history attached to it which may strike some people as
illustrating, with a humour that is still more grim, the inconvenience
resulting from ante-mortem generosity on a large scale: post-mortem
generosity may occasionally be risky, but its display on even the most
lavish scale has never been known to cause any personal inconvenience to
the one who indulges in it.
The house is an interesting old Jacobean one, standing on the side of a
mound within a loop of the river.
It has consequently a series of terrace gardens which are quite
delightful at all seasons. For years it was occupied by a Captain
Hesketh and his wife, the latter having inherited it with a handsome
fortune from her mother, who was the heiress of a family of considerable
importance in the county. At her husband's death Mrs. Hesketh continued
to live alone in the old house with a niece--for she had no children
of her own--and in course of time the girl fell in love with a man who
seemed in every way the right sort of person for her to marry, only for
the fact of his having a very limited income. The girl's aunt, however,
having nothing to live for except the witnessing of the happiness of the
young couple, was generous enough to make over to them all her property,
retaining only a sufficient sum to enable her to live in comfort for the
remainder of her life.
At this time she was sixty-three years of age, and her wants were very
simple. It is said that the annuity which she purchased amounted to no
more than three hundred pounds a year. Twelve years later, however,
the lawyer whom she had entrusted to carry out this portion of the
transaction for her died, and an examination of his affairs revealed the
fact that, instead of spending the money which she had handed to him in
the purchase of an annuity guaranteed by an Insurance Company of good
reputation, he had treated it as his own, and had merely paid her a
quarterly allowance. He died a bankrupt, owing thousands of pounds
to clients whose money he had appropriated; so that at the age of
seventy-five the unfortunate lady found herself penniless.
Her position was annoying, she told the man from whom I had the story,
but she did not feel it to be serious. Of course, she had only to
explain matters to her niece and her niece's husband and they would
take care that she should not suffer through the swindling agent. She
hastened to have an interview with them on the subject, and was actually
smiling as she told them what had happened. She was not smiling,
however, when the interview terminated; for she found herself treated
by them as a begging stranger. They gave her a sound scolding for her
unbusinesslike credulity: the idea of entrusting her money to such a man
without taking the trouble to find out how he had invested it! The thing
was absurd--grossly absurd, and they thought that she deserved to suffer
for her culpable carelessness!
Of course, though surprised and hurt at this want of sympathy, the old
lady readily admitted that she had been very careless; but the man had
been her lawyer and her husband's lawyer for over thirty years, and she
had implicit confidence in him, she said. After all, she reminded her
relations that she was an old woman, and that in all probability she
would not be a burden to them for more than a few years.
This plea did not seem to soften them in any way; at any rate, it did
not prevent her niece from expressing the opinion that it was most
inconsiderate on her part to expect that she and her husband should
accept the responsibility of keeping her for the rest of her life. They
had two children to educate, she explained, and it was going too far to
expect that they should be made to suffer because of her stupidity.
The poor old lady felt herself turned out of her old house--the house in
which she might still have been living if she had not been so foolishly
generous.
The next day, however, she received a letter from her niece's husband
informing her that, after due consideration of the matter, he and
his wife had come to the conclusion that, although she had no claim
whatsoever upon them, they might be able to allow her a pound a week for
life. He trusted that she had saved enough during the previous twelve
years to allow of her living comfortably--many women, he reminded her,
were compelled to live on much less. The final sentence in his letter
was equivalent to an exhortation to her to thank Heaven for having given
her a niece of so generous a disposition.
The story reached the ears of a lady who had been her friend for many
years, and she insisted on her rejecting the alms of her niece, offering
her a home with herself, and expressing her happiness to receive her
under her roof. The old lady accepted her friend's invitation; but at
the same time she made application to be admitted as an inmate to a
certain almshouse which had been founded and endowed by one of her own
ancestors. This step, however, she took in secret, and at least a year
would have to elapse before she could hope for admission to the charity.
It so happened, however, that her generous friend had a son who had
obtained some eminence at the Bar, and it seemed that the grim humour of
the whole story appealed to him very strongly. But on thinking over the
matter he perceived that this element in the story was not so finished
as he thought it should be, if properly worked out by an ironic fate. He
considered himself to be something of a critic in such matters, and it
was possibly his artistic instinct that prompted him to make a move with
a view to remedy the deficiency that he perceived in the story. He had
acquired a pretty fair knowledge of men and their characteristics, and
it occurred to him that a solicitor who gave up so much of his attention
to the movements of stocks and shares as did this dishonest one who was
the cause of the old lady's disaster, might possibly have been guilty of
some neglect in respect of the deeds of gift conveying her property
to her niece, and he turned his attention in this direction. He knew
exactly what legal machinery to put in motion for the purpose of his
inquiry, and the result he considered highly satisfactory; but it is
doubtful if the ungrateful niece of the poor lady for whom the solicitor
he had engaged was acting was of the same opinion when she received
notice that a motion was about to be made before His Majesty's judges
to set aside the deed of gift made twelve years earlier on account of a
vital flaw in the document itself.
The ungrateful niece and her husband consulted their solicitor when they
received their shock. He laughed reassuringly at first.
“Sounds very like a bit of bluff,” said he. “What does it mean? Why
should your aunt want to get into her hands again the property that she
made over to you?”
The man told him that the lady had been the victim of a rascally
solicitor, and so was left without a penny.
“And now she seems to have got into the hands of another of the same
stamp, only worse,” said the lawyer. “I don't think you need be uneasy.
I'll get a copy of the original deed and get counsel's opinion about it.
Trent will be the man. I'll send it to Trent. He is the leading man for
that sort of thing. If there's any flaw in it he'll be able to lay his
finger on it.”
The two clients looked at each other with something like dismay on their
faces.
“My aunt has been living for the past three months with a Mrs. Trent, I
have heard,” said the lady.
The lawyer opened his eyes unusually wide and screwed up his mouth into
the form of a puckered O.
“She is his mother,” he said after a pause. “But why--why should
he bother about such a piece of business as this? Why should he be
interested in upsetting the deed when it was obviously the intention of
your aunt to present you with the property? You have not quarrelled with
her, have you?”
“Oh no, there was no quarrel. She came to us with her story, of course,
and we at once offered to do something for her,” replied the niece.
“Of course. That was the sensible thing to do. But this only makes the
matter seem more mysterious. She accepted your offer, I suppose, and
why, then, she should----”
“She didn't accept it.”
“What! Did she make a demand on you to return the whole property?”
“Never. But she suggested that we should make good the three hundred a
year of her annuity.”
“But isn't that what you say you promised her?”
“We told her we couldn't afford that; but we offered her fifty-two
pounds a year.”
“A pound a week--one pound a week? Oh, my dear lady! A pound a week!
Surely you are joking.”
“We thought that she must surely have saved a good deal during the
twelve years.”
“Three hundred a year, when you deduct the in-come tax, doesn't leave a
gentlewoman much margin for saving.”
The man of the law shook his head and assumed a very serious look.
“Of course, I can't say anything at this moment as to the sort of case
they have against you; but I do not feel justified in concealing
from you my impression that if it is as we suppose, and Mr. Trent has
pronounced against the deed, the Court will take his view of it. Trent
is not the man to try on any sharp practice. And my advice to you is
to make any sacrifice to prevent the case from going before the Court.
Trent, if he is moving in the matter, must feel the ground pretty
firm under his feet. What a pity it was that you did not suggest three
hundred a year to the lady instead of--oh, that was undoubtedly
a mistake--a pound a week. Well, we can only do our best in the
circumstances. Who are the solicitors that sent you the letter?”
The lady gave him the name of the firm, and in due course he
communicated with them. An examination of the doubtful document removed
the possibility of his retaining any doubt as to its being invalid, and
his clients were assured that they could not contend the case there was
against them.
After this, I suppose, there was a scene that could only have justice
done to its varied features by the pen of a gifted novelist. I can see
the weeping niece on her knees in front of the old lady who had been
her benefactrix, but whom she had repaid with gross ingratitude. Her
children would possibly be kneeling by her side--they certainly would on
the lyric stage or in the last chapter of the novel. No doubt the aunt
would be greatly affected, though properly reproachful. But I doubt
if the gallery of the theatre or the readers of the novelette would be
quite satisfied with the conclusion of the story; for the generous
aunt allowed her original gift to stand, only stipulating for her three
hundred a year out of the estate.
Whatever humour one may perceive in these stories is certainly of that
unusual type which one might expect to find associated with a cathedral
town. It is the humour of an Old Testament parable--hard, and with a
lesson attached to it.
Not precisely of the same nature was the definition of the duties of the
verger suggested by a promising youth, whom I had instructions to lead
round the Minster by his relations: they intended him to become an
architect, and thought that he should become acquainted with the design
of all the cathedrals to begin with. At first he supposed that the
dignified gentleman wearing the black gown and carrying a mysterious
emblem of authority was an archbishop, and I fear I failed to place him
in possession of the facts respecting the duties of the verger, for
he nodded, saying--“Ah yes, I understand--a sort of dignified
chuck-er-out.”
It is not on record that there was attached to any great ecclesiastical
institution a dignitary who discharged the duties of a calcitrator. And,
so far as Broadminster is concerned, one may say that, whatever brawls
disturb the peace of other churches upon occasions, tranquillity reigns
within these grey walls and harmony among the spirits of its fortunate
aisles.