"`Sir,-- I'm a cad, and a liar and a thief. Don't believe a word I say.
You can tell anyone you like; most of them know already.
"`Yours truly,
"`Jerry Sneak.'"
The effect of the letter may be more easily imagined than expressed.
The audience received it first with astonishment, then with
consternation, and finally, as the light dawned in on their minds, with
laughter. Railsford alone looked serious and bewildered.
As for Mr Bickers, his face turned white, and he looked for a moment as
if he would spring at Mr Roe's throat. He snatched the letter from the
chairman's hand and looked at it, and then stared round him, on the
amused faces of his colleagues.
"You have been hoaxed, I fear," said Mr Roe.
Mr Bickers said nothing, but pointed to the parcel.
"Am I to open it?" asked the chairman.
"Yes, yes!" said the master hoarsely.
Mr Roe obeyed, and disclosed the turf amid another general laugh, in
which all but Railsford and Mr Bickers joined.
The latter had by this time lost his self-control. He glared round him
like a baited animal, and then, rounding suddenly on Railsford,
exclaimed, "This is your doing! You are at the bottom of this!"
Railsford vouchsafed no reply but a contemptuous shrug. He was in no
humour to see the joke. Disgust was his one sensation.
"Order, please," said the chairman. "These meetings, if they are to be
of any value, must be conducted without any quarrelling. Mr Bickers,
may we consider this unpleasant affair now at an end?"
"No!" shouted Mr Bickers. "I have been insulted! I don't care by
whom! The matter is _not_ at an end--not till I have received an answer
from this Railsford here to my question! Let him get up like a man and
say he did not attack me like a coward last term, and allow the blame
and suspicion to fall on others; let him even get up and declare that he
does not know anything about the affair. I defy him to do it! He dare
not!"
A silence followed this violent tirade, and everyone turned to
Railsford. He sat, motionless and pale, with his eyes on his accuser.
"Have you anything to say, Mr Railsford, or shall we consider the
matter at an end?"
"I have nothing to say," said the Master of the Shell, sitting, "except
that I refuse to answer these questions."
"Very good! Quite right!" said monsieur, springing to his feet. "When
Meester Beekaire can speak like a gentleman, he--"
Here the chairman interrupted.
"I addressed my question to Mr Railsford," said he. "I can understand
he declines, under present circumstances, to make any reply to these
accusations. But may I suggest it would be most unfortunate if we had
to adjourn this disagreeable question again? (Hear, hear.) I imagine
it can be very easily terminated to-night. We are all ready, I am sure,
to make allowance for a gentleman who is suffering from the irritation
of a practical joke. His questions were undoubtedly offensively put,
and Mr Railsford, as I say, was entitled to refuse to answer them. But
I ask him, in order to close this painful controversy finally, to allow
me as chairman of this meeting, to repeat those questions myself, so
that he may have an opportunity, as no doubt he desires, of formally
placing on record his denial of the charges which have been brought
against him."
Railsford gasped inwardly. The long-expected blow was coming, and he
felt it was no use to run from it any longer.
"The questions resolve themselves to two. First. Is there any
foundation for the charge that you committed or in any way participated
in the assault on Mr Bickers last term? And second, Is there any truth
in the statement that you know who the culprit or culprits are? Mr
Bickers, have I stated your questions correctly?"
"Yes," growled Mr Bickers. "Let him answer them if he can."
Every one now turned to Railsford, who rose slowly to his feet and fixed
his eyes full on the chairman. His friends thought they had rarely seen
a finer-looking man than he appeared at that moment, and looked forward
with pleasure to applauding his denial, and greeting him as finally
clear of the odious suspicions under which he had laboured for so long.