Arriving at Minehead, Helmsley passed out of the station unnoticed by
any one, and made his way easily through the sunny little town. He was
soon able to secure a "lift" towards Weircombe in a baker's cart going
half the way; the rest of the distance he judged he could very well
manage to walk, albeit slowly. A fluttering sense of happiness, like the
scarcely suppressed excitement of a boy going home from school for the
holidays, made him feel almost agile on his feet,--if he had only had a
trifle more strength he thought he could have run the length of every
mile stretching between him and the dear cottage in the coombe, which
had now become the central interest of his life. The air was so pure,
the sun so bright--the spring foliage was so fresh and green, the birds
sang so joyously--all nature seemed to be in such perfect tune with the
deep ease and satisfaction of his own soul, that every breath he took
was more or less of a thanksgiving to God for having been spared to
enjoy the beauty of such halcyon hours. By the willing away of all his
millions to one whom he knew to be of a pure, noble, and incorruptible
nature, a great load had been lifted from his mind,--he had done with
world's work for ever; and by some inexplicable yet divine compensation
it seemed as though the true meaning of the life to come had been
suddenly disclosed to him, and that he was allowed to realise for the
first time not only the possibility, but the certainty, that Death is
not an End, but a new Beginning. And he felt himself to be a free
man,--free of all earthly confusion and worry--free to recommence
another cycle of nobler work in a higher and wider sphere of action, And
he argued with himself thus:--
"A man is born into this world without his own knowledge or consent. Yet
he finds himself--also without his own knowledge or consent--surrounded
by natural beauty and perfect order--he finds nothing in the planet
which can be accounted valueless--he learns that even a grain of dust
has its appointed use, and that not a sparrow shall fall to the ground
without 'Our Father.' Everything is ready to his hand to minister to his
reasonable wants--and it is only when he misinterprets the mystic
meaning of life, and puts God aside as an 'unknown quantity,' that
things go wrong. His mission is that of progress and advancement--but
not progress and advancement in base material needs and pleasures,--the
progress and advancement required of him is primarily spiritual. For the
spiritual, or Mind, is the only Real. Matter is merely the husk in which
the seed of Spirit is enclosed--and Man's mistake is always that he
attaches himself to the perishable husk instead of the ever germinating
seed. He advances, but advances wrongly, and therefore has to go back
upon his steps. He progresses in what he calls civilisation, which so
long as it is purely self-aggrandisement, is but a common circle,
bringing him back in due course to primitive savagery. Now I, for
example, started in life to make money--I made it, and it brought me
power, which I thought progress; but now, at the end of my tether, I see
plainly that I have done no good in my career save such good as will
come from my having placed all my foolish gainings under the control of
a nature simpler and therefore stronger than my own. And I, leaving my
dross behind me, must go forward and begin again--spiritually the wiser
for my experience of this world, which may help me better to understand
the next."
Thus he mused, as he slowly trudged along under the bright and burning
sun--happy enough in his thoughts except that now and then a curious
touch of foreboding fear came over him as to whether anything ill had
happened to Mary in his absence.
"For one never knows!"--and a faint shudder came over him as he
remembered Tom o' the Gleam, and the cruel, uncalled-for death of his
child, the only human creature left to him in the world to care for.
"One can never tell, whether in the scheme of creation there is such a
being as a devil, who takes joy in running counter to the beneficent
intentions of the Creator! Light exists--and Darkness. Good seems
co-equal with Evil. It is all mystery! Now, suppose Mary were to die?
Suppose she were, at this very moment, dead?"
Such a horror came over him as this idea presented itself to his mind
that he trembled from head to foot, and his brain grew dizzy. He had
walked for a longer time than he knew since the cart in which he had
ridden part of the way had left him at about four miles away from
Weircombe, and he felt that he must sit down on the roadside and rest
for a bit before going further. How cruel, how fiendish it would be, he
continued to imagine, if Mary were dead! It would be devil's work!--and
he would have no more faith in God! He would have lost his last
hope,--and he would fall into the grave a despairing atheist and
blasphemer! Why, if Mary were dead, then the world was a snare, and
heaven a delusion!--truth a trick, and goodness a lie! Then--was all the
past, the present, and future hanging for him like a jewel on the finger
of one woman? He was bound to admit that it was so. He was also bound to
admit that all the past, present, and future had, for poor Tom o' the
Gleam, been centred in one little child. And--God?--no, not God--but a
devil, using as his tools devilish men,--had killed that child! Then,
might not that devil kill Mary? His head swam, and a sickening sense of
bafflement and incompetency came over him. He had made his will,--that
was true!--but who could guarantee that she whom he had chosen as his
heiress would live to inherit his wealth?
"I wish I did not think of such horrible things!" he said wearily--"Or I
wish I could walk faster, and get home--home to the little cottage
quickly, and see for myself that she is safe and well!"
Sitting among the long grass and field flowers by the roadside, he
grasped his stick in one hand and leaned his head upon that support,
closing his eyes in sheer fatigue and despondency. Suddenly a sound
startled him, and he struggled to his feet, his eyes shining with an
intent and eager look. That clear, tender voice!--that quick, sweet cry!
"David!"
He listened with a vague and dreamy sense of pleasure. The soft patter
of feet across the grass--the swish of a dress against the leaves, and
then--then--why, here was Mary herself, one tress of her lovely hair
tumbling loose in the sun, her eyes bright and her cheeks crimson with
running.
"Oh, David, dear old David! Here you are at last! Why _did_ you go away!
We have missed you dreadfully! David, you look _so_ tired!--where have
you been? Angus and I have been waiting for you ever so long,--you said
in your letter you would be back by Sunday, and we thought you would
likely choose to-day to come--oh, David?--you are quite worn out!
Don't--don't give way!"
For with the longed-for sight of her, the world's multi-millionaire had
become only a weak, over-wrought old man, and his tired heart had leaped
in his breast with quite a poor and common human joy which brought the
tears falling from his eyes despite himself. She was beside him in a
moment, her arm thrown affectionately about his shoulders, and her sweet
face turned up close to his, all aglow with sympathy and tenderness.
"Why did you leave us?" she went on with a gentle playfulness, though
the tears were in her own eyes. "Whatever made you think of getting work
out of Weircombe? Oh, you dissatisfied old boy! I thought you were quite
happy with me!"
He took her hand and held it a moment, then pressed it to his lips.
"Happy!" he murmured. "My dear, I was _too_ happy!--and I felt that I
owed you too much! I went away for a bit just to see if I could do
something for you more profitable than basket-making----"
Mary nodded her head at him in wise-like fashion, just as if he were a
spoilt child.
"I daresay you did!" she said, smiling. "And what's the end of it all,
eh?"
He looked at her, and in the brightness of her smile, smiled also.
"Well, the end of it all is that I've come back to you in exactly the
same condition in which I went away," he said. "No richer,--no poorer!
I've got nothing to do. Nobody wants old people on their hands nowadays.
It's a rough time of the world!"
"You'll always find the world rough on you if you turn your back on
those that love you!" she said.
He lifted his head and gazed at her with such a pained and piteous
appeal, that her heart smote her. He looked so very ill, and his worn
face with the snow-white hair ruffled about it, was so pallid and thin.
"God forbid that I should do that!" he murmured tremulously. "God
forbid! Mary, you don't think I would ever do that?"
"No--of course not!" she answered soothingly. "Because you see, you've
come back again. But if you had gone away altogether----"
"You'd have thought me an ungrateful, worthless old rascal, wouldn't
you?" And the smile again sparkled in his dim eyes. "And you and Angus
Reay would have said--'Well, never mind him! He served one useful
purpose at any rate--he brought us together!'"
"Now, David!" said Mary, holding up a warning finger, "You know we
shouldn't have talked in such a way of you at all! Even if you had never
come back, we should always have thought of you kindly--and I should
have always loved you and prayed for you!"
He was silent, mentally pulling himself together. Then he put his arm
gently through hers.
"Let us go home," he said. "I can walk now. Are we far from the coombe?"
"Not ten minutes off," she answered, glad to see him more cheerful and
alert. "By the short cut it's just over the brow of the hill. Will you
come that way?"
"Any way you like to take me," and leaning on her arm he walked bravely
on. "Where is Angus?"
"I left him sitting under a tree at the top of the coombe near the
Church," she replied. "He was busy with his writing, and I told him I
would just run across the hill and see if you were coming. I had a sort
of fancy you would be tramping home this morning! And where have you
been all these days?"
"A good way," he answered evasively. "I'm rather a slow walker."
"I should think you were!" and she laughed good-humouredly. "You must
have been pretty near us all the while!"
He made no answer, and together they paced slowly across the grass,
sweet with the mixed perfume of thousands of tiny close-growing herbs
and flowers which clung in unseen clumps to the soil. All at once the
quaint little tower of Weircombe Church thrust its ivy-covered summit
above the edge of the green slope which they were ascending, and another
few steps showed the glittering reaches of the sunlit sea. Helmsley
paused, and drew a deep breath.
"I am thankful to see it all again!" he said.
She waited, while leaning heavily on her arm he scanned the whole fair
landscape with a look of eager love and longing. She saw that he was
very tired and exhausted, and wondered what he had been doing with
himself in his days of absence from her care, but she had too much
delicacy and feeling for him to ask him any questions. And she was glad
when a cheery "Hillo!" echoed over the hill and Angus appeared, striding
across the grass and waving his cap in quite a jubilant fashion. As soon
as he saw them plainly he exchanged his stride for a run and came up to
them in a couple of minutes.
"Why, David!" he exclaimed. "How are you, old boy? Welcome back! So Mary
is right as usual! She said she was sure you would be home to-day!"
Helmsley could not speak. He merely returned the pressure of Reay's
warm, strong hand with all the friendly fervour of which he was capable.
A glance from Mary's eyes warned Angus that the old man was sorely
tired--and he at once offered him his arm.
"Lean on me, David," he said. "Strong as bonnie Mary is, I'm just a bit
stronger. We'll be across the brae in no time! Charlie's at home keeping
house!"
He laughed, and Helmsley smiled.
"Poor wee Charlie!" he said. "Did he miss me?"
"That he did!" answered Mary. "He's been quite lonesome, and not
contented at all with only me. Every morning and every night he went
into your room looking for you, and whined so pitifully at not finding
you that I had quite a trouble to comfort him."
"More tender-hearted than many a human so-called 'friend'!" murmured
Helmsley.
"Why yes, of course!" said Reay. "There's nothing more faithful on earth
than a faithful dog--except"--and he smiled--"a faithful husband!"
Mary laughed.
"Or a faithful wife--which?" she playfully demanded. "How does the old
rhyme go--
'A wife, a dog, and a walnut tree,
The more you beat 'em, the better they be!'
Are you going to try that system when we are married, Angus?"
She laughed again, and without waiting for an answer, ran on a little in
front, in order to be first across the natural bridge which separated
them from the opposite side of the "coombe," and from the spot where the
big chestnut-tree waved its fan-like green leaves and plumes of pinky
white blossom over her garden gate. Another few steps made easily with
the support of Reay's strong arm, and Helmsley found himself again in
the simple little raftered cottage kitchen, with Charlie tearing madly
round and round him in ecstasy, uttering short yelps of joy. Something
struggled in his throat for utterance,--it seemed ages since he had last
seen this little abode of peace and sweet content, and a curious
impression was in his mind of having left one identity here to take up
another less pleasing one elsewhere. A deep, unspeakable gratitude
overwhelmed him,--he felt to the full the sympathetic environment of
love,--that indescribable sense of security which satisfies the heart
when it knows it is "dear to some one else."
"If I be dear to some one else,
Then I should be to myself more dear."
For there is nothing in the whole strange symphony of human life, with
its concordances and dissonances, that strikes out such a chord of
perfect music as the consciousness of love. To feel that there is one at
least in the world to whom you are more dear than to any other living
being, is the very centralisation of life and the mainspring of action.
For that one you will work and plan,--for that one you will seek to be
noble and above the average in your motives and character--for that one
you will, despite a multitude of drawbacks, agree to live. But without
this melodious note in the chorus all the singing is in vain.
Led to his accustomed chair by the hearth, Helmsley sank into it
restfully, and closed his eyes. He was so thoroughly tired out mentally
and physically with the strain he had put upon himself in undertaking
his journey, as well as in getting through the business he had set out
to do, that he was only conscious of a great desire to sleep. So that
when he shut his eyes for a moment, as he thought, he was quite unaware
that he fell into a dead faint and so remained for nearly half an hour.
When he came to himself again, Mary was kneeling beside him with a very
pale face, and Angus was standing quite close to him, while no less a
personage than Mr. Bunce was holding his hand and feeling his pulse.
"Better now?" said Mr. Bunce, in a voice of encouraging mildness. "We
have done too much. We have walked too far. We must rest."
Helmsley smiled--the little group of three around him looked so
troubled, while he himself felt nothing unusual.
"What's the matter?" he asked. "I'm all right--quite all right. Only
just a little tired!"
"Exactly!" And Mr. Bunce nodded profoundly. "Just a little tired! We
have taken a very unnecessary journey away from our friends, and we are
suffering for it! We must now be very good; we must stay at home and
keep quiet!"
Helmsley looked from one to the other questioningly.
"Do you think I'm ill?" he asked. "I'm not, really! I feel very well."
"That's all right, David, dear!" said Mary, patting his hand. "But you
_are_ tired--you know you are!"
His eyes rested on her fondly.
"Yes, I'm tired," he confessed. "But that's nothing." He waited a
minute, looking at them all. "That's nothing! Is it, Mr. Bunce?"
"When we are young it is nothing," replied Mr. Bunce cautiously. "But
when we are old, we must be careful!"
Helmsley smiled.
"Shake hands, Bunce!" he said, suiting the action to the word. "I'll
obey your orders, never fear! I'll sit quiet!"
And he showed so much cheerfulness, and chatted with them all so
brightly, that, for the time, anxiety was dispelled. Mr. Bunce took his
departure promptly, only pausing at the garden gate to give a hint to
Angus Reay.
"He will require the greatest care. Don't alarm Miss Deane--but his
heart was always weak, and it has grown perceptibly weaker. He needs
complete repose."
Angus returned to the cottage somewhat depressed after this, and from
that moment Helmsley found himself surrounded with evidences of tender
forethought for his comfort such as no rich man could ever obtain for
mere cash payment. The finest medical skill and the best trained nursing
are, we know, to be had for money,--but the soothing touch of love,--the
wordless sympathy which manifests itself in all the looks and movements
of those by whom a life is really and truly held precious--these are
neither to be bought nor sold. And David Helmsley in his assumed
character of a man too old and too poor to have any so-called "useful"
friends--a mere wayfarer on the road apparently without a home, or any
prospect of obtaining one,--had, by the simplest, yet strangest chance
in the world, found an affection such as he had never in his most
successful and most brilliant days been able to win. He upon whom the
society women of London and Paris had looked with greedy and speculative
eyes, wondering how much they could manage to get out of him, was now
being cared for by one simple-hearted sincere woman, who had no other
motive for her affectionate solicitude save gentlest compassion and
kindness;--he whom crafty kings had invited to dine with them because of
his enormous wealth, and because is was possible that, for the "honour"
of sitting at the same table with them he might tide them over a
financial difficulty, was now tended with more than the duty and
watchfulness of a son in the person of a poor journalist, kicked out of
employment for telling the public certain important facts concerning
financial "deals" on the part of persons of influence--a journalist, who
for this very cause was likely never more to be a journalist, but rather
a fighter against bitter storm and stress, for the fair wind of popular
favour,--that being generally the true position of any independent
author who has something new and out of the common to say to the world.
Angus Reay, working steadily and hopefully on his gradually diminishing
little stock of money, with all his energies bent on cutting a diamond
of success out of the savagely hard rock of human circumstance, was more
filial in his respect and thought for Helmsley than either of Helmsley's
own sons had been; while his character was as far above the characters
of those two ne'er-do-weel sprouts of their mother's treachery as light
is above darkness. And the multi-millionaire was well content to rest in
the little cottage where he had found a real home, watching the quiet
course of events,--and waiting--waiting for something which he found
himself disposed to expect--a something to which he could not give a
name.
There was quite a little rejoicing in the village of Weircombe when it
was known he had returned from his brief wanderings, and there was also
a good deal of commiseration expressed for him when it was known that he
was somewhat weakened in physical health by his efforts to find more
paying work. Many of the children with whom he was a favourite came up
to see him, bringing little knots of flowers, or curious trophies of
weed and shells from the seashore--and now that the weather was settled
fine and warm, he became accustomed to sit in his chair outside the
cottage door in the garden, with the old sweetbriar bush shedding
perfume around him, and a clambering rose breaking into voluptuous
creamy pink blossom above his head. Here he would pursue his occupation
of basket-making, and most of the villagers made it their habit to pass
up and down at least once or twice a day in their turns, to see how he
fared, or, as they themselves expressed it, "to keep old David going."
His frail bent figure, his thin, intellectual face, with its composed
expression of peace and resignation, his soft white hair, and his slow
yet ever patiently working hands, made up a picture which, set in the
delicate framework of leaf and blossom, was one to impress the
imagination and haunt the memory. Mr. and Mrs. Twitt were constant
visitors, and many were the would-be jocose remarks of the old
stonemason on David's temporary truancy.
"Wanted more work, did ye?" And thrusting his hands deep in the pockets
of his corduroys, Twitt looked at him with a whimsical complacency.
"Well, why didn't ye come down to the stoneyard an' learn 'ow to cut a
hepitaph? Nice chippy, easy work in its way, an' no 'arm in yer sittin'
down to it. Why didn't ye, eh?"
"I've never had enough education for such work as that, Mr. Twitt,"
answered David mildly, with something of a humorous sparkle in his eyes.
"I'm afraid I should spoil more than I could pay for. You want an
artist--not an untrained clumsy old fellow like me."
"Oh, blow artists!" said Mr. Twitt irreverently. "They talks a lot--they
talks yer 'ed off--but they doos onny 'arf the labour as they spends in
waggin' their tongues. An' for a hepitaph, they none of 'em aint got an
idee. It's allus Scripter texes with 'em,--they aint got no 'riginality.
Now I'm a reg'lar Scripter reader, an' nowheres do I find it writ as
we're to use the words o' God Himself to carve on tombstones for our
speshul convenience, cos we aint no notions o' feelin' an' respect of
our own. But artists can't think o' nothin', an' I never cares to employ
'em. Yet for all that there's not a sweeter, pruttier place than our
little cemetery nowheres in all the world. There aint no tyranny in it,
an' no pettifoggin' interference. Why, there's places in England where
ye can't put what ye likes over the grave o' yer dead friends!--ye've
got to 'submit' yer idee to the parzon, or wot's worse, the Corporation,
if ser be yer last go-to-bed place is near a town. There's a town I know
of," and here Mr. Twitt began to laugh,--"wheer ye can't 'ave a moniment
put up to your dead folk without 'subjectin'' the design to the Town
Council--an' we all knows the fine taste o' Town Councils! They'se
'artists,' an' no mistake! I've got the rules of the cemetery of that
town for my own eddification. They runs like this--" And drawing a paper
from his pocket, he read as follows:--
"'All gravestones, monuments, tombs, tablets, memorials, palisades,
curbs, and inscriptions shall be subject to the approval of the Town
Council; and a drawing, showing the form, materials, and dimensions of
every gravestone, monument, tomb, tablet, memorial, palisades, or curb
proposed to be erected or fixed, together with a copy of the inscription
intended to be cut thereon (if any), on the form provided by the Town
Council, must be left at the office of the Clerk at least ten days
before the first Tuesday in any month. The Town Council reserve to
themselves the right to remove or prevent the erection of any monument,
tomb, tablet, memorial, etc., which shall not have previously received
their sanction.' There! What d' ye think of that?"
Helmsley had listened in astonishment.
"Think? I think it is monstrous!" he said, with some indignation. "Such
a Town Council as that is a sort of many-headed tyrant, resolved to
persecute the unhappy townspeople into their very graves!"
"Right y' are!" said Twitt. "But there's a many on 'em! An' ye may thank
yer stars ye're not anywheres under 'em. Now when _you_ goes the way o'
all flesh----"
He paused, suddenly embarrassed, and conscious that he had perhaps
touched on a sore subject. But Helmsley reassured him.
"Yes, Twitt? Don't stop!--what then?"
"Why, then," said Twitt, almost tenderly, "ye'll 'ave our good old
parzon to see ye properly tucked under a daisy quilt, an' wotever ye
wants put on yer tomb, or wotever's writ on it, can be yer own desire,
if ye'll think about it afore ye goes. An' there'll be no expense at
all--for I tell ye just the truth--I've grown to like ye that well that
I'll carve ye the pruttiest little tombstone ye ever seed for nothin'!"
Helmsley smiled.
"Well, I shan't be able to thank you then, Mr. Twitt, so I thank you
now," he said. "You know a good deed is always rewarded, if not in this
world, then in the next."
"I b'leeve that," rejoined Twitt; "I b'leeve it true. And though I know
Mis' Deane is that straight an' 'onest, she'd see ye properly mementoed
an' paid for, I wouldn't take a penny from 'er--not on account of a
kindly old gaffer like yerself. I'd do it all friendly."
"Of course you would!" and Helmsley shook his hand heartily; "And of
course you _will_!"
This, and many other conversations he had with Twitt and a certain few
of the villagers, showed him that the little community of Weircombe
evidently thought of him as being not long for this world. He accepted
the position quietly, and passed day after day peacefully enough,
without feeling any particular illness, save a great weakness in his
limbs. He was in himself particularly happy, for Mary was always with
him, and Angus passed every evening with them both. Another great
pleasure, too, he found in the occasional and entirely unobtrusive
visits of the parson of the little parish--a weak and ailing man
physically, but in soul and intellect exceptionally strong. As different
from the Reverend Mr. Arbroath as an old-time Crusader would be from a
modern jockey, he recognised the sacred character of his mission as an
ordained minister of Christ, and performed that mission simply and
faithfully. He would sit by Helmsley's chair of a summer afternoon and
talk with him as friend to friend--it made no difference to him that to
all appearances the old man was poor and dependent on Mary Deane's
bounty, and that his former life was, to him, the clergyman, a sealed
book; he was there to cheer and to comfort, not to inquire, reproach, or
condemn. He was the cheeriest of companions, and the most hopeful of
believers.
"If all clergymen were like you, sir," said Helmsley to him one day,
"there would be no atheists!"
The good man reddened at the compliment, as though he had been accused
of a crime.
"You think too kindly of my efforts," he said gently. "I only speak to
you as I would wish others to speak to me."
"'For this is the Law and the Prophets!'" murmured Helmsley. "Sir, will
you tell me one thing--are there many poor people in Weircombe?"
The clergyman looked a trifle surprised.
"Why, yes, to tell the exact truth, they are all poor people in
Weircombe," he answered. "You see, it is really only a little fishing
village. The rich people's places are situated all about it, here and
there at various miles of distance, but no one with money lives in
Weircombe itself."
"Yet every one seems happy," said Helmsley thoughtfully.
"Oh, yes, every one not only seems, but _is_ happy!" and the clergyman
smiled. "They have the ordinary troubles that fall to the common lot, of
course--but they are none of them discontented. There's very little
drunkenness, and as a consequence, very little quarrelling. They are a
good set of people--typically English of England!"
"If some millionaire were to leave every man, woman, and child a
thousand or more pounds apiece, I wonder what would happen?" suggested
Helmsley.
"Their joy would be turned to misery!" said the clergyman--"and their
little heaven would become a hell! Fortunately for them, such a disaster
is not likely to happen!"
Helmsley was silent; and after his kindly visitor had left him that day
sat for a long time absorbed in thought, his hands resting idly on the
osiers which he was gradually becoming too weak to bend.
It was now wearing on towards the middle of June, and on one fine
morning when Mary was carefully spreading out on a mending-frame a
wonderful old flounce of priceless _point d'Alençon_ lace, preparatory
to examining the numerous repairs it needed, Helmsley turned towards her
abruptly with the question--
"When are you and Angus going to be married, my dear?"
Mary smiled, and the soft colour flew over her face at the suggestion.
"Oh, not for a long time yet, David!" she replied. "Angus has not yet
finished his book,--and even when it is all done, he has to get it
published. He won't have the banns put up till the book is accepted."
"Won't he?" And Helmsley's eyes grew very wistful. "Why not?"
"Well, it's for quite a good reason, after all," she said. "He wants to
feel perfectly independent. You see, if he could get even a hundred
pounds down for his book he would be richer than I am, and it would be
all right. He'd never marry me with nothing at all of his own."
"Yet _you_ would marry him?"
"I'm not sure that I would," and she lifted her hand with a prettily
proud gesture. "You see, David, I really love him! And my love is too
strong and deep for me to be so selfish as to wish to drag him down. I
wouldn't have him lower his own self-respect for the world!"
"Love is greater than self-respect!" said Helmsley.
"Oh, David! You know better than that! There's no love _without_
self-respect--no real love, I mean. There are certain kinds of stupid
fancies called love--but they've no 'wear' in them!" and she laughed.
"They wouldn't last a month, let alone a lifetime!"
He sighed a little, and his lips trembled nervously.
"I'm afraid, my dear,--I'm afraid I shall not live to see you married!"
he said.
She left her lace frame and came to his side.
"Don't say that, David! You mustn't think it for a moment. You're much
better than you were--even Mr. Bunce says so!"
"Even Mr. Bunce!" And he took her hand in his own and studied its smooth
whiteness and beautiful shape attentively--anon he patted it tenderly.
"You have a pretty hand, Mary! It's a rare beauty!"
"Is it?" And she looked at her rosy palm meditatively. "I've never
thought much about it--but I've noticed that Angus and you both have
nice hands."
"Especially Angus!" said Helmsley, with a smile.
Her face reflected the smile.
"Yes. Especially Angus!"
After this little conversation Helmsley was very quiet and thoughtful.
Often indeed he sat with eyes closed, pretending to sleep, in order
inwardly to meditate on the plans he had most at heart. He saw no reason
to alter them,--though the idea presented itself once or twice as to
whether he should not reveal his actual identity to the clergyman who
visited him so often, and who was, apart from his sacred calling, not
only a thinking, feeling, humane creature, but a very perfect gentleman.
But on due reflection he saw that this might possibly lead to awkward
complications, so he still resolved to pursue the safer policy of
silence.
One evening, when Angus Reay had come in as usual to sit awhile and chat
with him before he went to bed, he could hardly control a slight nervous
start when Reay observed casually--
"By the way, David, that old millionaire I told you about, Helmsley,
isn't dead after all!"
"Oh--isn't he?" And Helmsley feigned to be affected with a troublesome
cough which necessitated his looking away for a minute. "Has he turned
up?"
"Yes--he's turned up. That is to say, that he's expected back in town
for the 'season,' as the Cooing Column of the paper says."
"Why, what's the Cooing Column?" asked Mary, laughing.
"The fashionable intelligence corner," answered Angus, joining in her
laughter. "I call it the Cooing Column, because it's the place where all
the doves of society, soiled and clean, get their little grain of
personal advertisement. They pay for it, of course. There it is that the
disreputable Mrs. Mushroom Ketchup gets it announced that she wore a
collar of diamonds at the Opera, and there the battered, dissipated Lord
'Jimmy' Jenkins has it proudly stated that his yacht is undergoing
'extensive alterations.' Who in the real work-a-day, sane world cares a
button whether his lordship Jenkins sails in his yacht or sinks in it!
And Mrs. Mushroom Ketchup's diamonds are only so much fresh fuel piled
on the burning anguish of starving and suffering men,--anguish which
results in anarchy. Any number of anarchists are bred from the Cooing
Column!"
"What would you have rich men do?" asked Helmsley suddenly. "If all
their business turns out much more successfully than they have ever
expected, and they make millions almost despite their own desire, what
would you have them do with their wealth?"
Angus thought a moment.
"It would be difficult to advise," he said at last. "For one thing I
would not have them pauperise two of the finest things in this world and
the best worth fighting for--Education and Literature. The man who has
no struggle at all to get himself educated is only half a man. And
literature which is handed to the people free of cost is shamed by being
put at a lower level than beer and potatoes, for which every man has to
_pay_. Andrew Carnegie I look upon as one of the world's big meddlers. A
'cute' meddler too, for he takes care to do nothing that hasn't got his
name tacked on to it. However, I'm in great hopes that his pauperising
of Scottish University education may in time wear itself out, and that
Scotsmen will be sufficiently true to the spirit of Robert Burns to
stick to the business of working and paying for what they get. I hate
all things that are given _gratis_. There's always a smack of the
advertising agent about them. God Himself gives nothing 'free'--you've
got to pay with your very life for each gulp of air you breathe,--and
rightly too! And if you try to get something out of His creation
_without_ paying for it, the bill is presented in due course with
compound interest!"
"I agree with you," said Helmsley. "But what, then, of the poor rich
men? You don't approve of Carnegie's methods of disbursing wealth. What
would you suggest?"
"The doing of private good," replied Angus promptly. "Good that is never
heard of, never talked of, never mentioned in the Cooing Column. A rich
man could perform acts of the most heavenly and helpful kindness if he
would only go about personally and privately among the very poor, make
friends with them, and himself assist them. But he will hardly ever do
this. Now the millionaire who is going to marry my first love, Lucy
Sorrel----"
"Oh, _is_ he going to marry her?" And Helmsley looked up with sudden
interest.
"Well, I suppose he is!" And Angus threw back his head and laughed.
"He's to be back in town for the 'season'--and you know what the London
'season' is!"
"I'm sure we don't!" said Mary, with an amused glance. "Tell us!"
"An endless round of lunches, dinners, balls, operas, theatres,
card-parties, and inane jabber," he answered. "A mixture of various
kinds of food which people eat recklessly with the natural
results,--dyspepsia, inertia, mental vacuity, and general uselessness. A
few Court 'functions,' some picture shows, and two or three great
races--and--that's all. Some unfortunate marriages are usually the
result of each year's motley."
"And you think the millionaire you speak of will be one of the
unfortunate ones?" said Helmsley.
"Yes, David, I do! If he's going back to London for the season, Lucy
Sorrel will never let him out of her sight again! She's made up her mind
to be a Mrs. Millionaire, and she's not troubled by any
over-sensitiveness or delicacy of sentiment."
"That I quite believe--from what you have told me,"--and Helmsley
smiled. "But what do the papers--what does the Cooing Column say?"
"The Cooing Column says that one of the world's greatest millionaires,
Mr. David Helmsley, who has been abroad for nearly a year for the
benefit of his health, will return to his mansion in Carlton House
Terrace this month for the 'season.'"
"Is that all?"
"That's all. Mary, my bonnie Mary,"--and Angus put an arm tenderly round
the waist of his promised wife--"Your husband may, perhaps--only
perhaps!--become famous--but you'll never, never be a Mrs. Millionaire!"
She laughed and blushed as he kissed her.
"I don't want ever to be rich," she said. "I'd rather be poor!"
They went out into the little garden then, with their arms
entwined,--and Helmsley, seated in his chair under the rose-covered
porch, watched them half in gladness, half in trouble. Was he doing well
for them, he wondered? Or ill? Would the possession of wealth disturb
the idyll of their contented lives, their perfect love? Almost he wished
that he really were in very truth the forlorn and homeless wayfarer he
had assumed to be,--wholly and irrevocably poor!
That night in his little room, when everything was quiet, and Mary was
soundly sleeping in the attic above him, he rose quietly from his bed,
and lighting a candle, took pen and ink and made a few additions to the
letter of instructions which accompanied his will. Some evenings
previously, when Mary and Angus had gone out for a walk together, he had
taken the opportunity to disburden his "workman's coat" of all the
banknotes contained in the lining, and, folding them up in one parcel,
had put them in a sealed envelope, which envelope he marked in a
certain fashion, enclosing it in the larger envelope which contained his
will. In the same way he made a small, neatly sealed packet of the
"collection" made for him at the "Trusty Man" by poor Tom o' the Gleam,
marking that also. Now, on this particular night, feeling that he had
done all he could think of to make business matters fairly easy to deal
with, he packed up everything in one parcel, which he tied with a string
and sealed securely, addressing it to Sir Francis Vesey. This parcel he
again enclosed in another, equally tied up and sealed, the outer wrapper
of which he addressed to one John Bulteel at certain offices in London,
which were in truth the offices of Vesey and Symonds, Bulteel being
their confidential clerk. The fact that Angus Reay knew the name of the
firm which had been mentioned in the papers as connected with the famous
millionaire, David Helmsley, caused him to avoid inscribing it on the
packet which would have to be taken to its destination immediately after
his death. As he had now arranged things, it would be conveyed to the
office unsuspectingly, and Bulteel, opening the first wrapper, would see
that the contents were for Sir Francis, and would take them to him at
once. Locking the packet in the little cupboard in the wall which Mary
had given him, as she playfully said, "to keep his treasures in"--he
threw himself again on his bed, and, thoroughly exhausted, tried to
sleep.
"It will be all right, I think!" he murmured to himself, as he closed
his eyes wearily--"At any rate, so far as I am concerned, I have done
with the world! God grant some good may come of my millions after I am
dead! After I am dead! How strange it sounds! What will it seem like, I
wonder,--to be dead?"
And he suddenly thought of a poem he had read some years back,--one of
the finest and most daring thoughts ever expressed in verse, from the
pen of a fine and much neglected poet, Robert Buchanan:--
"Master, if there be Doom,
All men are bereaven!
If in the Universe
One Spirit receive the curse,
Alas for Heaven!
If there be Doom for one,
Thou, Master, art undone!
"Were I a Soul in Heaven,
Afar from pain;--
Yea, on thy breast of snow,
At the scream of one below,
I should scream again--
Art Thou less piteous than
The conception of a Man?"
"No, no, not less piteous!" he murmured--"But surely infinitely more
pitiful!"