THE CLERK'S QUEST
For thirty years Edward Dempsey had worked low down in the list of
clerks in the firm of Quin and Wee. He did his work so well that he
seemed born to do it, and it was felt that any change in which Dempsey
was concerned would be unlucky. Managers had looked at Dempsey
doubtingly and had left him in his habits. New partners had come into
the business, but Dempsey showed no sign of interest. He was interested
only in his desk. There it was by the dim window, there were his pens,
there was his penwiper, there was the ruler, there was the
blotting-pad. Dempsey was always the first to arrive and the last to
leave. Once in thirty years of service he had accepted a holiday. It
had been a topic of conversation all the morning, and the clerks
tittered when he came into the bank in the afternoon saying he had been
looking into the shop windows all the morning, and had come down to the
bank to see how they were getting on.
An obscure, clandestine, taciturn little man, occupying in life only
the space necessary to bend over a desk, and whose conical head leaned
to one side as if in token of his humility.
It seemed that Dempsey had no other ambition than to be allowed to
stagnate at a desk to the end of his life, and this modest ambition
would have been realised had it not been for a slight accident--the
single accident that had found its way into Dempsey's well-ordered and
closely-guarded life. One summer's day, the heat of the areas arose and
filled the open window, and Dempsey's somnolescent senses were moved by
a soft and suave perfume. At first he was puzzled to say whence it
came; then he perceived that it had come from the bundle of cheques
which he held in his hand; and then that the odoriferous paper was a
pale pink cheque in the middle of the bundle. He had hardly seen a
flower for thirty years, and could not determine whether the odour was
that of mignonette, or honeysuckle, or violet. But at that moment the
cheques were called for; he handed them to his superior, and with cool
hand and clear brain continued to make entries in the ledger until the
bank closed.
But that night, just an he was falling asleep, a remembrance of the
insinuating perfume returned to him. He wondered whose cheque it was,
and regretted not having looked at the signature, and many times during
the succeeding weeks he paused as he was making entries in the ledger
to think if the haunting perfume were rose, lavender, or mignonette. It
was not the scent of rose, he was sure of that. And a vague swaying of
hope began. Dreams that had died or had never been born floated up like
things from the depths of the sea, and many old things that he had
dreamed about or had never dreamed at all drifted about. Out of the
depths of life a hope that he had never known, or that the severe rule
of his daily life had checked long ago, began its struggle for life;
and when the same sweet odour came again--he knew now it was the scent
of heliotrope--his heart was lifted and he was overcome in a sweet
possessive trouble. He sought for the cheque amid the bundle of cheques
and, finding it, he pressed the paper to his face. The cheque was
written in a thin, feminine handwriting, and was signed "Henrietta
Brown," and the name and handwriting were pregnant with occult
significances in Dempsey's disturbed mind. His hand paused amid the
entries, and he grew suddenly aware of some dim, shadowy form, gracile
and sweet-smelling as the spring-moist shadow of wandering cloud,
emanation of earth, or woman herself? Dempsey pondered, and his
absent-mindedness was noticed, and occasioned comment among the clerks.
For the first time in his life he was glad when the office hours were
over. He wanted to be alone, he wanted to think, he felt he must
abandon himself to the new influence that he had so suddenly and
unexpectedly entered his life. Henrietta Brown! the name persisted in
his mind like a half-forgotten, half-remembered tune; and in his
efforts to realise her beauty he stopped before the photographic
displays in the shop windows; but none of the famous or the infamous
celebrities there helped him in the least. He could only realise
Henrietta Brown by turning his thoughts from without and seeking the
intimate sense of her perfumed cheques. The end of every month brought
a cheque from Henrietta Brown, and for a few moments the clerk was
transported and lived beyond himself.
An idea had fixed itself in his mind. He knew not if Henrietta Brown
was young or old, pretty or ugly, married or single; the perfume and
the name were sufficient, and could no longer be separated from the
idea, now forcing its way through the fissures in the failing brain of
this poor little bachelor clerk--that idea of light and love and grace
so inherent in man, but which rigorous circumstance had compelled
Dempsey to banish from his life.
Dempsey had had a mother to support for many years, and had found it
impossible to economise. But since her death he had laid by about one
hundred and fifty pounds. He thought of this money with awe, and awed
by his good fortune he wondered how much more he might save before he
was forced to leave his employment; and to have touched a penny of his
savings would have seemed to him a sin near to sacrilege. Yet he did
not hesitate for a single moment to send Henrietta Brown, whose address
he had been able to obtain through the bank books, a diamond brooch
which had cost twenty pounds. He omitted to say whence it had come, and
for days he lived in a warm wonderment, satisfied in the thought that
she was wearing something that he had seen and touched.
His ideal was now by him and always, and its dominion was so complete
that he neglected his duties at the bank, and was censured by the
amazed manager. The change of his condition was so obvious that it
became the subject for gossip, and jokes were now beginning to pass
into serious conjecturing. Dempsey took no notice, and his plans
matured amid jokes and theories. The desire to write and reveal himself
to his beloved had become imperative; and after some very slight
hesitation--for he was moved more by instinct than by reason--he wrote
a letter urging the fatality of the circumstances that separated them,
and explaining rather than excusing this revelation of his identity.
His letter was full of deference, but at the same time it left no doubt
as to the nature of his attachments and hopes. The answer to this
letter was a polite note begging him not to persist in this
correspondence, and warning him that if he did it would become
necessary to write to the manager of the bank. But the return of his
brooch did not dissuade Dempsey from the pursuit of his ideal; and as
time went by it became more and more impossible for him to refrain from
writing love letters, and sending occasional presents of jewellery.
When the letters and the jewellery were returned to him he put them
away carelessly, and he bought the first sparkle of diamonds that
caught his fancy, and forwarded ring, bracelet, and ear-ring, with
whatever word of rapturous love that came up in his mind.
One day he was called into the manager's room, severely reprimanded,
and eventually pardoned in consideration of his long and faithful
service. But the reprimands of his employers were of no use and he
continued to write to Henrietta Brown, growing more and more careless
of his secret. He dropped brooches about the office, and his letters.
At last the story was whispered from desk to desk. Dempsey's dismissal
was the only course open to the firm; and it was with much regret that
the partners told their old servant that his services were no longer
required.
To their surprise Dempsey seemed quite unaffected by his dismissal; he
even seemed relieved, and left the bank smiling, thinking of Henrietta,
bestowing no thought on his want of means. He did not even think of
providing himself with money by the sale of some of the jewellery he
had about him, nor of his going to his lodging and packing up his
clothes, he did not think how he should get to Edinburgh--it was there
that she lived. He thought of her even to the exclusion of the simplest
means of reaching her, and was content to walk about the streets in
happy mood, waiting for glimpses of some evanescent phantom at the
wood's edge wearing a star on her forehead, or catching sight in the
wood's depths of a glistening shoulder and feet flying towards the
reeds. Full of happy aspiration he wandered seeking the country through
the many straggling villages that hang like children round the skirts
of Dublin, and was passing through one of these at nightfall, and,
feeling tired, he turned into the bar of an inn, and asked for bread
and cheese.
"Come a long way, governor?" said one of two rough fellows.
"I am going a long way," replied Dempsey; "I am going north--very far
north."
"And what may yer be going north for, if I may make bold to ask?"
"I am going to the lady I love, and I am taking her beautiful presents
of jewellery."
The two rough fellows exchanged glances; and it is easy to imagine how
Dempsey was induced to let them have his diamonds, so that inquiries
might be made of a friend round the corner regarding their value. After
waiting a little while, Dempsey paid for his bread and cheese, and went
in search of the thieves. But the face of Henrietta Brown obliterated
all remembrance of thieves and diamonds, and he wandered for a few
days, sustained by his dream and the crusts that his appearance drew
from the pitiful. At last he even neglected to ask for a crust, and,
foodless, followed the beckoning vision, from sunrise to sundown.
It was a soft, quiet summer's night when Dempsey lay down to sleep for
the last time. He was very tired, he had been wandering all day, and
threw himself on the grass by the roadside. He lay there looking up at
the stars, thinking of Henrietta, knowing that everything was slipping
away, and he passing into a diviner sense. Henrietta seemed to be
coming nearer to him and revealing herself more clearly; and when the
word of death was in his throat, and his eyes opened for the last time,
it seemed to him that one of the stars came down from the sky and laid
its bright face upon his shoulder.