Not often is the death of a man, who to all appearances was nothing more
than a "tramp," attended by any demonstrations of sorrow. There are so
many "poor" men! The roads are infested with them. It would seem, in
fact, that they have no business to live at all, especially when they
are old, and can do little or nothing to earn their bread. Such,
generally and roughly speaking, is the opinion of the matter-of-fact
world. Nevertheless, the death of "old David" created quite an
atmosphere of mourning in Weircombe, though, had it been known that he
was one of the world's famous millionaires, such kindly regret and
compassion might have been lacking. As things were, he carried his
triumph of love to the grave with him. Mary's grief for the loss of the
gentle old man was deep and genuine, and Angus Reay shared it with her
to the full.
"I shall miss him so much!" she sobbed, looking at the empty chair,
which had been that of her own father. "He was always so kind and
thoughtful for me--never wishing to give trouble!--poor dear old
David!--and he did so hope to see us married, Angus!--you know it was
through him that we knew each other!"
"I know!"--and Angus, profoundly moved, was not ashamed of the tears in
his own eyes--"God bless him! He was a dear, good old fellow! But, Mary,
you must not fret; he would not like to see your pretty eyes all red
with weeping. This life was getting very difficult for him,
remember,--he endured a good deal of pain. Bunce says he must have
suffered acutely often without saying a word about it, lest you should
be anxious. He is at rest now."
"Yes, he is at rest!"--and Mary struggled to repress her tears--"Come
and see!"
Hand in hand they entered the little room where the dead man lay,
covered with a snowy sheet, his waxen hands crossed peacefully outside
it, and delicate clusters of white roses and myrtle laid here and there
around him. His face was like a fine piece of sculptured marble in its
still repose--the gravity and grandeur of death had hallowed the worn
features of old age, and given them a great sweetness and majesty. The
two lovers stood gazing at the corpse for a moment in silent awe--then
Mary whispered softly--
"He seems only asleep! And he looks happy."
"He _is_ happy, dear!--he must be happy!"--and Angus drew her gently
away. "Poor and helpless as he was, still he found a friend in you at
the last, and now all his troubles are over. He has gone to Heaven with
the help and blessing of your kind and tender heart, my Mary! I am sure
of that!"
She sighed, and her eyes were clouded with sadness.
"Heaven seems very far away sometimes!" she said. "And--often I
wonder--what _is_ Heaven?"
"Love!" he answered--"Love made perfect--Love that knows no change and
no end! 'Nothing is sweeter than love; nothing stronger, nothing higher,
nothing broader, nothing more pleasant, nothing fuller or better in
heaven and in earth, for love is born of God, and can rest only in God
above all things created.'"
He quoted the beautiful words from the _Imitation of Christ_ reverently
and tenderly.
"Is that not true, my Mary?" he said, kissing her.
"Yes, Angus! For _us_ I know it is true!--I wish it were true for all
the world!"
And then there came a lovely day, perfectly brilliant and intensely
calm, on which "old David," was quietly buried in the picturesque little
churchyard of Weircombe. Mary and Angus together had chosen his
resting-place, a grassy knoll swept by the delicate shadows of a noble
beech-tree, and facing the blue expanse of the ocean. Every man who had
known and talked with him in the village offered to contribute to the
expenses of his funeral, which, however, were very slight. The good
Vicar would accept no burial fee, and all who knew the story of the old
"tramp's" rescue from the storm by Mary Deane, and her gentle care of
him afterwards, were anxious to prove that they too were not destitute
of that pure and true charity which "suffereth long and is kind." Had
David Helmsley been buried as David Helmsley the millionaire, it is more
than likely that he might not have had one sincere mourner at his grave,
with the exception of his friend, Sir Francis Vesey, and his valet
Benson. There would have been a few "business" men,--and some empty
carriages belonging to fashionable folk sent out of so-called "respect";
but of the many he had entertained, assisted and benefited, not one
probably would have taken the trouble to pay him, so much as a last
honour. As the poor tramping old basket-maker, whose failing strength
would not allow him to earn much of a living, his simple funeral was
attended by nearly a whole village,--honest men who stood respectfully
bareheaded as the coffin was lowered into the grave--kind-hearted women
who wept for "poor lonely soul"--as they expressed it,--and little
children who threw knots of flowers into that mysterious dark hole in
the ground "where people went to sleep for a little, and then came out
again as angels"--as their parents told them. It was a simple ceremony,
performed in a spirit of perfect piety, and without any hypocrisy or
formality. And when it was all over, and the villagers had dispersed to
their homes, Mr. Twitt on his way "down street," as he termed it, from
the churchyard, paused at Mary Deane's cottage to unburden his mind of a
weighty resolution.
"Ye see, Mis' Deane, it's like this," he said--"I as good as promised
the poor old gaffer as I'd do 'im a tombstone for nuthin', an' I'm 'ere
to say as I aint a-goin' back on that. But I must take my time on it.
I'd like to think out a speshul hepitaph--an' doin' portry takes a bit
of 'ard brain work. So when the earth's set down on 'is grave a bit, an'
the daisies is a-growin' on the grass, I'll mebbe 'ave got an idea
wot'll please ye. 'E aint left any mossel o' paper writ out like, with
wot 'e'd like put on 'im, I s'pose?"
Mary felt the colour rush to her face.
"N--no! Not that I know of, Mr. Twitt," she said. "He has left a few
papers which I promised him I would take to a friend of his, but I
haven't even looked at them yet, and don't know to whom they are
addressed. If I find anything I'll let you know."
"Ay, do so!" and Twitt rubbed his chin meditatively. "I wouldn't run
agin' 'is wishes for anything if ser be I can carry 'em out. I considers
as 'e wor a very fine sort--gentle as a lamb, an' grateful for all wot
was done for 'im, an' I wants to be as friendly to 'im in 'is death as I
wos in 'is life--ye understand?"
"Yes--I know--I quite understand," said Mary. "But there's plenty of
time---"
"Yes, there's plenty of time!" agreed Twitt. "But, lor,' if you could
only know what a pain it gives me in the 'ed to work the portry out of
it, ye wouldn't wonder at my preparin' ye, as 'twere. Onny I wishes ye
just to understand that it'll all be done for love--an' no charge."
Mary thanked him smiling, yet with tears in her eyes, and he strolled
away down the street in his usual slow and somewhat casual manner.
That evening,--the evening of the day on which all that was mortal of
"old David" had been committed to the gentle ground, Mary unlocked the
cupboard of which he had given her the key on the last night of his
life, and took out the bulky packet it contained. She read the
superscription with some surprise and uneasiness. It was addressed to a
Mr. Bulteel, in a certain street near Chancery Lane, London. Now Mary
had never been to London in her life. The very idea of going to that
vast unknown metropolis half scared her, and she sat for some minutes,
with the sealed packet in her lap, quite confused and troubled.
"Yet I made the promise!" she said to herself--"And I dare not break it!
I must go. And I must not tell Angus anything about it--that's the worst
part of all!"
She gazed wistfully at the packet,--anon she turned it over and over. It
was sealed in several places--but the seal had no graven impress, the
wax having merely been pressed with the finger.
"I must go!" she repeated. "I'm bound to deliver it myself to the man
for whom it is intended. But what a journey it will be! To London!"
Absorbed in thought, she started as a tap came at the cottage door,--and
rising, she hurriedly put the package out of sight, just as Angus
entered.
"Mary," he said, as he came towards her--"Do you know, I've been
thinking we had better get quietly married as soon as possible?"
She smiled.
"Why? Is the book finished?" she asked.
"No, it isn't. I wish it was! But it will be finished in another
month----"
"Then let us wait that other month," she said. "You will be happier, I
know, if the work is off your mind."
"Yes--I shall be happier--but Mary, I can't bear to think of you all
alone in this little cottage----"
She gently interrupted him.
"I was all alone for five years after my father died," she said. "And
though I was sometimes a little sad, I was not dull, because I always
had work to do. Dear old David was a good companion, and it was pleasant
to take care of him--indeed, this last year has been quite a happy one
for me, and I shan't find it hard to live alone in the cottage for just
a month now. Don't worry about me, Angus!"
He stooped and picked up Charlie, who, since his master's death, had
been very dispirited.
"You see, Mary," he said, as he fondled the little dog and stroked its
silky hair--"nothing will alter the fact that you are richer than I am.
You do regular work for which you get regular pay--now I have no settled
work at all, and not much chance of pay, even for the book on which I've
been spending nearly a year of my time. You've got a house which you can
keep going--and very soon I shall not be able to afford so much as a
room!--think of that! And yet--I have the impertinence to ask you to
marry me! Forgive me, dear! It is, as you say, better to wait."
She came and entwined her arms about him.
"I'll wait a month," she said--"No longer, Angus! By that time, if you
don't marry me, I shall summons you for breach of promise!"
She smiled--but he still remained thoughtful.
"Angus!" she said suddenly--"I want to tell you--I shall have to go away
from Weircombe for a day--perhaps two days."
He looked surprised.
"Go away!" he echoed. "What for? Where to?"
She told him then of "old David's" last request to her, and of the duty
she had undertaken to perform.
He listened gravely.
"You must do it, of course," he said. "But will you have to travel far?"
"Some distance from Weircombe," she answered, evasively.
"May I not go with you?" he asked.
She hesitated.
"I promised----" she began.
"And you shall not break your word," he said, kissing her. "You are so
true, my Mary, that I wouldn't tempt you to change one word or even half
a word of what you have said to any one, living or dead. When do you
want to take this journey?"
"To-morrow, or the next day," she said. "I'll ask Mrs. Twitt to see to
the house and look after Charlie, and I'll be back again as quickly as I
can. Because, when I've given the papers over to David's friend, whoever
he is, I shall have nothing more to do but just come home."
This being settled, it was afterwards determined that the next day but
one would be the most convenient for her to go, as she could then avail
herself of the carrier's cart to take her as far as Minehead. But she
was not allowed to start on her unexpected travels without a burst of
prophecy from Mrs. Twitt.
"As I've said an' allus thought," said that estimable lady--"Old David
'ad suthin' 'idden in 'is 'art wot 'e never giv' away to nobody. Mark my
words, Mis' Deane!--'e 'ad a sin or a sorrer at the back of 'im, an'
whichever it do turn out to be I'm not a-goin' to blame 'im either way,
for bein' dead 'e's dead, an' them as sez unkind o' the dead is apt to
be picked morsels for the devil's gridiron. But now that you've got a
packet to take to old David's friends somewheres, you may take my word
for 't, Mis' Deane, you'll find out as 'e was wot ye didn't expect. Onny
last night, as I was a-sittin' afore the kitchen fire, for though bein'
summer I'm that chilly that I feels the least change in the temper o'
the sea,--as I was a-sittin', I say, out jumps a cinder as long as a
pine cone, red an' glowin' like a candle at the end. An' I stares at the
thing, an' I sez: 'That's either a purse o' money, or a journey with a
coffin at the end'--an' the thing burns an' shines like a reg'lar spark
of old Nick's cookin' stove, an' though I pokes an' pokes it, it won't
go out, but lies on the 'erth, frizzlin' all the time. An' I do 'ope,
Mis' Deane, as now yer goin' off to 'and over old David's effecks to the
party interested, ye'll come back safe, for the poor old dear 'adn't a
penny to bless 'isself with, so the cinder must mean the journey, an'
bein' warned, ye'll guard agin the coffin at the end."
Mary smiled rather sadly.
"I'll take care!" she said. "But I don't think anything very serious is
likely to happen. Poor old David had no friends,--and probably the few
papers he has left are only for some relative who would not do anything
for him while he was alive, but who, all the same, has to be told that
he is dead."
"Maybe so!" and Mrs. Twitt nodded her head profoundly--"But that cinder
worn't made in the fire for nowt! Such a shape as 'twas don't grow out
of the flames twice in twenty year!"
And, with the conviction of the village prophetess she assumed to be,
she was not to be shaken from the idea that strange discoveries were
pending respecting "old David." Mary herself could not quite get rid of
a vague misgiving and anxiety, which culminated at last in her
determination to show Angus Reay the packet left in her charge, in order
that he might see to whom it was addressed.
"For that can do no harm," she thought--"I feel that he really ought to
know that I have to go all the way to London."
Angus, however, on reading the superscription, was fully as perplexed as
she was. He was familiar with the street near Chancery Lane where the
mysterious "Mr. Bulteel" lived, but the name of Bulteel as a resident in
that street was altogether unknown to him. Presently a bright idea
struck him.
"I have it!" he said. "Look here, Mary, didn't David say he used to be
employed in office-work?"
"Yes," she answered,--"He had to give up his situation, so I understand,
on account of old age."
"Then that makes it clear," Angus declared. "This Mr. Bulteel is
probably a man who worked with him in the same office--perhaps the only
link he had with his past life. I think you'll find that's the way it
will turn out. But I hate to think of your travelling to London all
alone!--for the first time in your life, too!"
"Oh well, that doesn't matter much!" she said, cheerfully,--"Now that
you know where I am going, it's all right. You forget, Angus!--I'm quite
old enough to take care of myself. How many times must I remind you that
you are engaged to be married to an old maid of thirty-five? You treat
me as if I were quite a young girl!"
"So I do--and so I will!" and his eyes rested upon her with a proud look
of admiration. "For you _are_ young, Mary--young in your heart and soul
and nature--younger than any so-called young girl I ever met, and
twenty times more beautiful. So there!"
She smiled gravely.
"You are easily satisfied, Angus," she said--"But the world will not
agree with you in your ideas of me. And when you become a famous
man----"
"If I become a famous man----" he interrupted.
"No--not 'if'--I say 'when,'" she repeated. "When you become a famous
man, people will say, 'what a pity he did not marry some one younger and
more suited to his position----"
She could speak no more, for Angus silenced her with a kiss.
"Yes, what a pity it will be!" he echoed. "What a pity! When other men,
less fortunate, see that I have won a beautiful and loving wife, whose
heart is all my own,--who is pure and true as the sun in heaven,--'what
a pity,' they will say, 'that we are not so lucky!' That's what the talk
will be, Mary! For there's no man on earth who does not crave to be
loved for himself alone--a selfish wish, perhaps--but it's implanted in
every son of Adam. And a man's life is always more or less spoilt by
lack of the love he needs."
She put her arms round his neck, and her true eyes looked straightly
into his own.
"Your life will not be spoilt that way, dear!" she said. "Trust me for
that!"
"Do I not know it!" he answered, passionately. "And would I not lose the
whole world, with all its chances of fame and fortune, rather than lose
_you_!"
And in their mutual exchange of tenderness and confidence they forgot
all save
"The time and place
And the loved one all together!"
It was a perfect summer's morning when Mary, for the first time in many
years, left her little home in Weircombe and started upon a journey she
had never taken and never had thought of taking--a journey which, to her
unsophisticated mind, seemed fraught with strange possibilities of
difficulty, even of peril. London had loomed upon her horizon through
the medium of the daily newspaper, as a vast over-populated city where
(if she might believe the press) humanity is more selfish than
generous, more cruel than kind,--where bitter poverty and starvation are
seen side by side with criminal extravagance and luxury,--and where,
according to her simple notions, the people were forgetting or had
forgotten God. It was with a certain lingering and wistful backward look
that she left her little cottage embowered among roses, and waved
farewell to Mrs. Twitt, who, standing at the garden gate with Charlie in
her arms, waved hearty response, cheerfully calling out "Good Luck!"
after her, and adding the further assurance--"Ye'll find everything as
well an' straight as ye left it when ye comes 'ome, please God!"
Angus Reay accompanied her in the carrier's cart to Minehead, and there
she caught the express to London. On enquiry, she found there was a
midnight train which would bring her back from the metropolis at about
nine o'clock the next morning, and she resolved to travel home by it.
"You will be so tired!" said Angus, regretfully. "And yet I would rather
you did not stay away a moment longer than you can help!"
"Don't fear!" and she smiled. "You cannot be a bit more anxious for me
to come back than I am to come back myself! Good-bye! It's only for a
day!"
She waved her hand as the train steamed out of the station, and he
watched her sweet face smiling at him to the very last, when the
express, gathering speed, rushed away with her and whirled her into the
far distance. A great depression fell upon his soul,--all the light
seemed gone out of the landscape--all the joy out of his life--and he
realised, as it were suddenly, what her love meant to him.
"It is everything!" he said. "I don't believe I could write a line
without her!--in fact I know I wouldn't have the heart for it! She is so
different to every woman I have ever known,--she seems to make the world
all warm and kind by just smiling her own bonnie smile!"
And starting off to walk part of the way back to Weircombe, he sang
softly under his breath as he went a verse of "Annie Laurie"--
"Like dew on the gowan lyin'
Is the fa' o' her fairy feet;
And like winds in simmer sighin'
Her voice is low an' sweet
Her voice is low an' sweet;
An' she's a' the world to me;
An' for bonnie Annie Laurie
I'd lay me doun and dee!"
And all the beautiful influences of nature,--the bright sunshine, the
wealth of June blossom, the clear skies and the singing of birds, seemed
part of that enchanting old song, expressing the happiness which alone
is made perfect by love.
Meanwhile, no adventures of a startling or remarkable kind occurred to
Mary during her rather long and tedious journey. Various passengers got
into her third-class compartment and got out again, but they were
somewhat dull and commonplace folk, many of them being of that curiously
unsociable type of human creature which apparently mistrusts its
fellows. Contrary to her ingenuous expectation, no one seemed to think a
journey to London was anything of a unique or thrilling experience. Once
only, when she was nearing her destination, did she venture to ask a
fellow-passenger, an elderly man with a kindly face, how she ought to go
to Chancery Lane. He looked at her with a touch of curiosity.
"That's among the hornets' nests," he said.
She raised her pretty eyebrows with a little air of perplexity.
"Hornets' nests?"
"Yes. Where a good many lawyers live, or used to live."
"Oh, I see!" And she smiled responsively to what he evidently intended
as a brilliant satirical joke. "But is it easy to get there?"
"Quite easy. Take a 'bus."
"From the station?"
"Of course!"
And he subsided into silence.
She asked no more questions, and on her arrival at Paddington confided
her anxieties to a friendly porter, who, announcing that he was "from
Somerset born himself and would see her through," gave her concise
directions which she attentively followed; with the result that despite
much bewilderment in getting in and getting out of omnibuses, and
jostling against more people than she had ever seen in the course of her
whole life, she found herself at last at the entrance of a rather
obscure-looking smutty little passage, guarded by a couple of round
columns, on which were painted in black letters a considerable number of
names, among which were those of "Vesey and Symonds." The numeral
inscribed above the entrance to this passage corresponded to the number
on the address of the packet which she carried for "Mr. Bulteel"--but
though she read all the names on the two columns, "Bulteel" was not
among them. Nevertheless, she made her way perseveringly into what
seemed nothing but a little blind alley leading nowhere, and as she did
so, a small boy came running briskly down a flight of dark stairs, which
were scarcely visible from the street, and nearly knocked her over.
"'Ullo! Beg pardon 'm! Which office d' ye want?"
"Is there," began Mary, in her gentle voice--"is there a Mr.
Bulteel----?"
"Bulteel? Yes--straight up--second floor--third door--Vesey and
Symonds!"
With these words jerked out of himself at lightning speed, the boy
rushed past her and disappeared.
With a beating heart Mary cautiously climbed the dark staircase which he
had just descended. When she reached the second floor, she paused. There
were three doors all facing her,--on the first one was painted the name
of "Sir Francis Vesey"--on the second "Mr. John Symonds"--and on the
third "Mr. Bulteel." As soon as she saw this last, she heaved a little
sigh of relief, and going straight up to it knocked timidly. It was
opened at once by a young clerk who looked at her questioningly.
"Mr. Bulteel?" she asked, hesitatingly.
"Yes. Have you an appointment?"
"No. I am quite a stranger," she said. "I only wish to tell Mr. Bulteel
of the death of some one he knows."
The clerk glanced at her and seemed dubious.
"Mr. Bulteel is very busy," he began--"and unless you have an
appointment----"
"Oh, please let me see him!" And Mary's eyes almost filled with tears.
"See!"--and she held up before him the packet she carried. "I've
travelled all the way from Weircombe, in Somerset, to bring him this
from his dead friend, and I promised to give it to him myself. Please,
please do not turn me away!"
The clerk stared hard at the superscription on the packet, as he well
might. For he had at once recognised the handwriting of David Helmsley.
But he suppressed every outward sign of surprise, save such as might
appear in a glance of unconcealed wonder at Mary herself. Then he said
briefly--
"Come in!"
She obeyed, and was at once shut in a stuffy cupboard-like room which
had no other furniture than an office desk and high stool.
"Name, please!" said the clerk.
She looked startled--then smiled.
"My name? Mary Deane."
"Miss or Mrs.?"
"'Miss,' if you please, sir," she answered, the colour flushing her
cheeks with confusion at the sharpness of his manner.
The clerk gave her another up-and-down look, and opening a door behind
his office desk vanished like a conjuror tricking himself through a
hole.
She waited patiently for a couple of minutes--and then the clerk came
back, with traces of excitement in his manner.
"Yes--Mr. Bulteel will see you. This way!"
She followed him with her usual quiet step and composed demeanour, and
bent her head with a pretty air of respect as she found herself in the
presence of an elderly man with iron-grey whiskers and a severely
preoccupied air of business hardening his otherwise rather benevolent
features. He adjusted his spectacles and looked keenly at her as she
entered. She spoke at once.
"You are Mr. Bulteel?"
"Yes."
"Then this is for you," she said, approaching him, and handing him the
packet she had brought. "They are some papers belonging to a poor old
tramp named David, who lodged in my house for nearly a year--it will be
a year come July. He was very weak and feeble and got lost in a storm on
the hills above Weircombe--that's where I live--and I found him lying
quite unconscious in the wet and cold, and took him home and nursed him.
He got better and stayed on with me, making baskets for a living--he was
too feeble to tramp any more--but he gave me no trouble, he was such a
kind, good old man. I was very fond of him. And--and--last week he
died"--here her sweet voice trembled. "He suffered great pain--but at
the end he passed away quite peacefully--in my arms. He was very anxious
that I should bring his papers to you myself--and I promised I would
so----"
She paused, a little troubled by his silence. Surely he looked very
strangely at her.
"I am sorry," she faltered, nervously--"if I have brought you any bad
news;--poor David seemed to have no friends, but perhaps you were a
friend to him once and may have a kind recollection of him----"
He was still quite silent. Slowly he broke the seals of the packet, and
drawing out a slip of paper which came first to his hand, read what was
written upon it. Then he rose from his chair.
"Kindly wait one moment," he said. "These--these papers and letters are
not for me, but--but for--for another gentleman."
He hurried out of the room, taking the packet with him, and Mary
remained alone for nearly a quarter of an hour, vaguely perplexed, and
wondering how any "other gentleman" could possibly be concerned in the
matter. Presently Mr. Bulteel returned, in an evident state of
suppressed agitation.
"Will you please follow me, Miss Deane?" he said, with a singular air of
deference. "Sir Francis is quite alone and will see you at once."
Mary's blue eyes opened in amazement.
"Sir Francis----!" she stammered. "I don't quite understand----"
"This way," said Mr. Bulteel, escorting her out of his own room along
the passage to the door which she had before seen labelled with the name
of "Sir Francis Vesey"--then catching the startled and appealing glance
of her eyes, he added kindly: "Don't be alarmed! It's all right!"
Thereupon he opened the door and announced--
"Miss Deane, Sir Francis."
Mary looked up, and then curtsied with quite an "out-of-date" air of
exquisite grace, as she found herself in the presence of a dignified
white-haired old gentleman, who, standing near a large office desk on
which the papers she had brought lay open, was wiping his spectacles,
and looking very much as if he had been guilty of the womanish weakness
of tears. He advanced to meet her.
"How do you do!" he said, uttering this commonplace with remarkable
earnestness, and taking her hand kindly in his own. "You bring me sad
news--very sad news! I had not expected the death of my old friend so
suddenly--I had hoped to see him again--yes, I had hoped very much to
see him again quite soon! And so you were with him at the last?"
Mary looked, as she felt, utterly bewildered.
"I think," she murmured--"I think there must be some mistake,--the
papers I brought here were for Mr. Bulteel----"
"Yes--yes!" said Sir Francis. "That's quite right! Mr. Bulteel is my
confidential clerk--and the packet was addressed to him. But a note
inside requested that Mr. Bulteel should bring all the documents at once
to me, which he has done. Everything is quite correct--quite in order.
But--I forgot! You do not know! Please sit down--and I will endeavour to
explain."
He drew up a chair for her near his desk so that she might lean her arm
upon it, for she looked frightened. As a matter of fact he was
frightened himself. Such a task as he had now to perform had never
before been allotted to him. A letter addressed to him, and enclosed in
the packet containing Helmsley's Last Will and Testament, had explained
the whole situation, and had fully described, with simple fidelity, the
life his old friend had led at Weircombe, and the affectionate care with
which Mary had tended him,--while the conclusion of the letter was
worded in terms of touching farewell.
"For," wrote Helmsley, "when you read this, I shall be dead and in
my quiet grave at Weircombe. Let me rest there in peace,--for though
my eyes will no more see the sun,--or the kindness in the eyes of
the woman whose unselfish goodness has been more than the sunshine
to me, I shall--or so I think and hope--be spiritually conscious
that my mortal remains are buried where humble and simple folk think
well of me. This last letter from my hand to you is one not of
business so much as friendship--for I have learned that what we call
'business' counts for very little, while the ties of sympathy,
confidence, and love between human beings are the only forces that
assist in the betterment of the world. And so farewell! Let the
beloved angel who brings you these last messages from me have all
honour from you for my sake.--Yours,
David Helmsley."
* * * * *
And now, to Sir Francis Vesey's deep concern, the "beloved angel" thus
spoken of sat opposite to him, moved by evident alarm,--her blue eyes
full of tears, and her face pale and scared. How was he to begin telling
her what she was bound to know?
"Yes--I will--I must endeavour to explain," he repeated, bending his
brows upon her and regaining something of his self-control. "You, of
course, were not aware--I mean my old friend never told you who he
really was?"
Her anxious look grew more wistful.
"No, and indeed I never asked," she said. "He was so feeble when I took
him to my home out of the storm, and for weeks afterwards he was so
dangerously ill, that I thought questions might worry him. Besides it
was not my business to bother about where he came from. He was just old
and poor and friendless--that was enough for me."
"I hope--I do very much hope," said Sir Francis gently, "that you will
not allow yourself to be too much startled--or--or overcome by what I
have to tell you. David--he said his name was David, did he not?"
She made a sign of assent. A strange terror was creeping upon her, and
she could not speak.
"David--yes!--that was quite right--David was his name," proceeded Sir
Francis cautiously. "But he had another name--a surname which perhaps
you may, or may not have heard. That name was Helmsley----"
She sprang up with a cry, remembering Angus Reay's story about his first
love, Lucy Sorrel, and her millionaire.
"Helmsley! Not David Helmsley!"
"Yes,--David Helmsley! The 'poor old tramp' you sheltered in your
home,--the friendless and penniless stranger you cared for so
unselfishly and tenderly, was one of the richest men in the world!"
She stood amazed,--stricken as by a lightning shock.
"One of the richest men in the world!" she faltered. "One of the
richest----" and here, with a little stifled sob, she wrung her hands
together. "Oh no--no! That can't be true! He would never have deceived
me!"
Sir Francis felt an uncomfortable tightness in his throat. The
situation was embarrassing. He saw at once that she was not so much
affected by the announcement of the supposed "poor" man's riches, as by
the overwhelming thought that he could have represented himself to her
as any other than he truly was.
"Sit down again, and let me tell you all," he said gently--"You will, I
am sure, forgive him for the part he played when you know his history.
David Helmsley--who was my friend as well as my client for more than
twenty years--was a fortunate man in the way of material
prosperity,--but he was very unfortunate in his experience of human
nature. His vast wealth made it impossible for him to see much more of
men and women than was just enough to show him their worst side. He was
surrounded by people who sought to use him and his great influence for
their own selfish ends,--and the emotions and sentiments of life, such
as love, fidelity, kindness, and integrity, he seldom or never met with
among either his so-called 'friends' or his acquaintances. His wife was
false to him, and his two sons brought him nothing but shame and
dishonour. They all three died--and then--then in his old age he found
himself alone in the world without any one who loved him, or whom he
loved--without any one to whom he could confidently leave his enormous
fortune, knowing it would be wisely and nobly used. When I last saw him
I urged upon him the necessity of making his Will. He said he could not
make it, as there was no one living whom he cared to name as his heir.
Then he left London,--ostensibly on a journey for his health." Here Sir
Francis paused, looking anxiously at his listener. She was deadly pale,
and every now and then her eyes brimmed over with tears. "You can guess
the rest," he continued,--"He took no one into his confidence as to his
intention,--not even me. I understood he had gone abroad--till the other
day--a short time ago--when I had a letter from him telling me that he
was passing through Exeter."
She clasped and unclasped her hands nervously.
"Ah! That was where he went when he told me he had gone in search of
work!" she murmured--"Oh, David, David!"
"He informed me then," proceeded Sir Francis, "that he had made his
Will. The Will is here,"--and he took up a document lying on his
desk--"The manner of its execution coincides precisely with the letter
of instructions received, as I say, from Exeter--of course it will have
to be formally proved----"
She lifted her eyes wonderingly.
"What is it to me?" she said--"I have nothing to do with it. I have
brought you the papers--but I am sorry--oh, so sorry to hear that he was
not what he made himself out to be! I cannot think of him in the same
way----"
Sir Francis drew his chair closer to hers.
"Is it possible," he said--"Is it possible, my dear Miss Deane, that you
do not understand?"
She gazed at him candidly.
"Yes, of course I understand," she said--"I understand that he was a
rich man who played the part of a poor one--to see if any one would care
for him just for himself alone--and--I--I--did care--oh, I did
care!--and now I feel as if I couldn't care any more----"
Her voice broke sobbingly, and Sir Francis Vesey grew desperate.
"Don't cry!" he said--"Please don't cry! I should not be able to bear
it! You see I'm a business man"--here he took off his spectacles and
rubbed them vigorously--"and my position is that of the late Mr. David
Helmsley's solicitor. In that position I am bound to tell you the
straight truth--because I'm afraid you don't grasp it at all. It is a
very overwhelming thing for you,--but all the same, I am sure, quite
sure, that my old friend had reason to rely confidently upon your
strength of character--as well as upon your affection for him----"
She had checked her sobs and was looking at him steadily.
"And, therefore," he proceeded--"referring again to my own
position--that of the late David Helmsley's solicitor, it is my duty to
inform you that you, Mary Deane, are by his last Will and Testament, the
late David Helmsley's sole heiress."
She started up in terror.
"Oh no, no!--not me!" she cried.
"Everything which the late David Helmsley died possessed of, is left to
you absolutely and unconditionally," went on Sir Francis, speaking with
slow and deliberate emphasis--"And--even as he was one of the richest
men, so you are now one of the richest women in the world!"
She turned deathly white,--then suddenly, to his great alarm and
confusion, dropped on her knees before him, clasping her hands in a
passion of appeal.
"Oh, don't say that, sir!" she exclaimed--"Please, please don't say it!
I cannot be rich--I would not! I should be miserable--I should indeed!
Oh, David, dear old David! I'm sure he never wished to make me
wretched--he was fond of me--he was, really! And we were so happy and
peaceful in the cottage at home! There was so little money, but so much
love! Don't say I'm rich, sir!--or, if I am, let me give it all away at
once! Let me give it to the starving and sick people in this great
city--or please give it to them for me,--but don't, don't say that I
must keep it myself!--I could not bear it!--oh, I could not bear it!
Help me, oh, do help me to give it all away and let me remain just as I
am, quite, quite poor!"