THE STRANGER
There is a great deal of fine philanthropic work done east of Aldgate
Station by numbers of self-sacrificing young men just down from the
Universities. So, when a slim parson touched Alban upon the arm and
begged for a word with him, he concluded immediately that he had
attracted the notice of one of these and become the objective of his
charity.
"I beg your pardon," he said a little stiffly. The idea of stooping to
such assistance had long been revolting to him. He was within an ace of
breaking away from the fellow altogether.
"Your name is Alban Kennedy, I think? Will you permit me to have a few
words with you?"
Alban looked the parson up and down, and the survey did something to
satisfy him. He found himself face to face with a man, it might be of
thirty years of age, whose complexion was dark but not unpleasant, whose
eyes were frank and open, the possessor, too, of fair brown hair and of
a manner not altogether free from a suspicion of that which scoffers
call the "wash-hand" basin cult.
"I do not know you, sir."
"Indeed you do not--we are total strangers. My name is Sidney Geary; I
am the senior curate of St. Philip's Church at Hampstead. If we could go
somewhere and have a few words, I would be very much obliged to you."
Alban hardly knew what to say to him. The manner was not that of a
philanthropist desiring him to come to a "pleasant afternoon for the
people"; he detected no air of patronage, no vulgar curiosity--indeed,
the curate of St. Philip's was almost deferential.
"Well, sir--if you don't mind a coffee shop--"
"The very place. I have always thought that a coffee shop, properly
conducted and entirely opposed to the alcoholic principle, is one of the
most useful works in the civic economy. Let us go to a coffee shop by
all means."
Alban crossed the road and, leading the stranger a little way eastward,
turned into a respectable establishment upon the Lockhart plan--almost
deserted at such an hour and the very place for a confidential chat.
"Will you have anything, sir?"
The curate looked at the thick cups upon the counter, turned his gaze
for an instant upon a splendid pile of sausages, and shuddered a little
ominously.
"I suppose the people here have excellent appetites," he reflected
sagely. "I myself, unfortunately, have just lunched in Mount Street--but
a little coffee--shall we not drink a little coffee?"
"Suppose I order you two doorsteps and a thick 'un?"
"My dear young fellow, what in heaven's name are 'two doorsteps and a
thick 'un?'"
Alban smiled a little scornfully.
"Evidently you come from the West. I was only trying you. Shall we have
two coffees--large? It isn't so bad as it looks by a long way."
The coffee was brought and set steaming before them. In an interval of
silence Alban studied the curate's face as he would have studied a book
in which he might read some account of his own fortunes. Why had this
man stopped him in the street?
"Your first visit to Aldgate, sir?"
"Not exactly, Mr. Kennedy--many years ago I have recollections of a
school treat at a watering-place near the river's mouth--an exceedingly
muddy place since become famous, I understand. But I take the children
to Eastbourne now."
"They find that a bit slow, don't they? Kids love mud, you know."
"They do--upon my word. A child's love of mud is one of the most
incurable things in nature."
"Then why try to cure it?"
"But what are you to do?"
"Wash them, sir,--you can always do that. My father was a parson, you
know--"
"Good heavens, a clergyman--and you are come to--that is, you choose to
live amidst these dreadful surroundings?"
"I do not choose--death chose for me."
"My poor boy--"
"Not at all, sir. Give a man a good appetite and enough to gratify it,
and I don't know that other circumstances count much."
"Trial has made of you an epicurean, I see. Well, well, so much the
better. That which I have to offer you will be the more acceptable."
"Employment, sir?"
"Employment--for a considerable term. Good employment, Mr. Kennedy.
Employment which will take you into the highest society, educate you,
perhaps, open a great career to you--that is what I came to speak of."
The good man had meant to break the news more dramatically; but it
flowed on now as a freshet released, while his eyes sparkled and his
head wagged as though his whole soul were bursting with it. Alban
thought for a moment that he had met one of those pleasant eccentrics
who are not less rare in the East End than the West. "This good fellow
has escaped out of an asylum," he thought.
"What kind of a job would that be, sir?"
"Your own. Name it and it shall be chosen for you. That is what I am
commissioned to say."
"By whom, sir?"
"By my patron and by yours."
"Does he wish to keep his name back?"
"So little that he is waiting for you at his own house now."
"Then why shouldn't we go and see him, sir?"
He put the question fully believing that it would bring the whole
ridiculous castle down with a crash, as it were, upon the table before
him. Its effect, however, was entirely otherwise. The parson stood up
immediately.
"My carriage is waiting," he said; "nothing could possibly suit me
better."
Alban, however, remained seated.
"Mr. Geary," he exclaimed, "you have forgotten to tell me something."
"I can think of nothing."
"The conditions of this slap-up job--the high society and all the rest
of it! What are the conditions?"
He spoke almost with contempt, and deliberately selected a vulgar
expression. It had come to him by this time that some unknown friend had
become interested in his career and that this amiable curate desired to
make either a schoolmaster or an organist of him. "Old Boriskoff knew I
was going to get the sack and little Lois has been chattering," he
argued--nor did this line of reasoning at all console him. Sidney Geary,
meanwhile, felt as though some one had suddenly applied a slab of
melting ice to those grammatical nerves which Cambridge had tended so
carefully.
"My dear Mr. Kennedy--not 'slap-up,' I beg of you. If there are any
conditions attached to the employment my patron has to offer you, is not
he the best person to state them? Come and hear him for yourself. I
assure you it will not be waste of time."
"Does he live far from here?"
"At Hampstead Heath--it will take us an hour to drive there."
"And did he send the char a bancs especially for my benefit?"
"Not really--but naturally he did."
"Then I will go with you, sir."
He put on his cap slowly and followed the curate into the street--one of
the girls racing after them to say that they had forgotten to pay the
bill. "And a pretty sort of clergyman you must be, to be sure," was her
reflection--to the curate's blushing annoyance and his quite substantial
indignation.
"I find much impertinence in this part of the world," he remarked as
they retraced their steps toward the West; "as if the girl did not know
that it was an accident."
"We pay for what we eat down here," Alban rejoined dryly; "it's a good
plan as you would discover if you tried it, sir."
Mr. Geary looked at the boy for an instant as though in doubt whether he
had heard a sophism or a mere impertinence. This important question was
not, however, to be decided; for a neat single brougham edged toward the
pavement at the moment and a little crowd collected instantly to remark
so signal a phenomenon.
"Your carriage, sir?" Alban asked.
"Yes," said the curate, quietly, "my carriage. And now, if you please,
we will go and see Mr. Gessner. He is a Pole, Mr. Kennedy, and one of
the richest men in London to-day."