WESTMINSTER HALL
The parliamentary committee pursued their animated inquiries respecting
the Limehouse bridge all through the sultry month of July. How Mr. Vigil
must have hated Mr. Nogo, and the M'Carthy Desmond! how sick he must
have been of that eternal witness who, with imperturbable effrontery,
answered the 2,250 questions put to him without admitting anything! To
Mr. Vigil it was all mere nonsense, sheer waste of time. Had he been
condemned to sit for eight days in close contiguity to the clappers of
a small mill, he would have learnt as much as he did from the witnesses
before the committee. Nevertheless he went through it and did not lose
his temper. He smiled sweetly on Mr. Nogo every morning, and greeted
the titled Irishman with his easy familiar nod, as though the continued
sitting of this very committee was of all things to him the most
desirable. Such is Mr. Vigil's peculiar tact, such his special talent;
these are the gifts--gifts by no means ordinary--which have made him
Right Honourable, and recommended him to the confidence of successive
badgers.
But though the committee was uninteresting to Mr. Vigil, it was not
so to the speculative inhabitants of Limehouse, or to the credulous
shopkeepers of Rotherhithe. On the evening of the day on which Mr.
Blocks was examined, the shares went up 20 per cent; and when his
evidence was published _in extenso_ the next Saturday morning by the
_Capel Court Share-buyer_, a periodical which served for Bible and
Prayer-book, as well as a Compendium of the Whole Duty of Man, to Undy
Scott and his friends, a further rise in the price of this now valuable
property was the immediate consequence.
Now, then, was the time for Alaric to sell and get out of his
difficulties if ever he could do so. Shares which he bought for 30s.
were now worth nearly £2 10s. He was strongly of opinion that they would
fall again, and that the final result of the committee would leave
them of a less value than their original purchase-money, and probably
altogether valueless. He could not, however, act in the matter without
consulting Undy, so closely linked were they in the speculation; and
even at the present price his own shares would not enable him to pay
back the full amount of what he had taken.
The joint property of the two was, however, at its present market price,
worth £12,000--£10,000 would make him a free man. He was perfectly
willing to let Undy have the full use of the difference in amount; nay,
he was ready enough to give it to him altogether, if by so doing he
could place the whole of his ward's money once more in safety. With the
power of offering such a douceur to his friend's rapacity, he flattered
himself that he might have a chance of being successful. He was thus
prepared to discuss the matter with his partner.
It so happened that at the same moment Undy was desirous of discussing
the same subject, their joint interest, namely, in the Limehouse bridge;
there was no difficulty therefore in their coming together. They met
at the door of the committee-room when Mr. Nogo had just put his 999th
question to the adverse witness; and as the summons to prayers prevented
the 1,000th being proceeded with at that moment, Undy and Alaric
sauntered back along the passages, and then walking up and down the
immense space of Westminster Hall, said each to the other what he had to
say on the matter mooted between them.
Undy was in great glee, and seemed to look on his fortune as already
made. They had at first confined their remarks to the special evidence
of the witness who had last been in the chair; and Undy, with the
volubility which was common to him when he was in high spirits, had
been denouncing him as an ass who was injuring his own cause by his over
obstinacy.
'Nothing that he can say,' said Undy, 'will tell upon the share-market.
The stock is rising from hour to hour; and Piles himself told me that
he knew from sure intelligence that the Chancellor of the Exchequer
is prepared to give way, whatever Vigil may say to the contrary. Their
firm, Piles says, is buying every share they can lay their hands on.'
'Then in God's name let them buy ours,' said Alaric.
'Buy ours!' said Undy. 'You don't mean to tell me that you wish to sell
now? You don't mean to say that you want to back out, now that the game
is all going our own way?'
'Indeed I do, and I intend to do so; just listen to me, Undy----'
'I tell you fairly, Tudor, I will not sell a share; what you may choose
to do with your own I cannot say. But if you will be guided by me you
will keep every share you have got. Instead of selling we should both
add to our stock. I at any rate am resolved to do so.'
'Listen to me, Undy,' said Alaric.
'The truth is,' said Undy--who at the present moment preferred talking
to listening--'the truth is, you do not understand buying and selling
shares. We should both be ruined very quickly were I to allow myself to
be led by you; you are too timid, too much afraid of risking your money;
your speculative pluck hardly rises higher than the Three per cents, and
never soars above a first-class mortgage on land.'
'I could be as sanguine as you are, and as bold,' said Alaric, 'were I
venturing with my own money.'
'In the name of goodness get that bugbear out of your head,' said Undy.
'Whatever good it might have done you to think of that some time ago,
it can do you no good now.' There was a bitter truth in this which made
Alaric's heart sink low within his breast. 'Wherever the money came
from, whose property it may have been or be, it has been used; and now
your only safety is in making the best use of it. A little daring, a
little audacity--it is that which ruins men. When you sit down to play
brag, you must brag it out, or lose your money.'
'But, my dear fellow, there is no question here of losing money. If we
sell now we shall realize about £2,000.'
'And will that, or the half of that, satisfy you? Is that your idea of
a good thing? Will that be sufficient to pay for the dozen of bad things
which a fellow is always putting his foot into? It won't satisfy me. I
can tell you that, at any rate.'
Alaric felt very desirous of keeping Undy in a good humour. He wished,
if possible, to persuade him rather than to drive him; to coax him into
repaying this money, and not absolutely to demand the repayment. 'Come,'
said he, 'what do you call a good thing yourself?'
'I call cent per cent a good thing, and I'll not sell a share till they
come up to that.'
'They'll never do that, Undy.'
'That's your opinion. I think differently. And I'm sure you will own I
have had more experience of the share-market than you have. When I see
such men as Blocks and Piles buying fast, I know very well which way the
wind blows. A man may be fishing a long time, Tudor, in these waters,
before he gets such a haul as this; but he must be a great fool to let
go his net when he does get it.'
They both then remained silent for a time, for each was doubtful how
best to put forward the view which he himself wished to urge. Their
projects were diametrically different, and yet neither could carry his
own without the assistance of the other.
'I tell you what I propose,' said Undy.
'Wait a moment, Undy,' said Alaric; 'listen to me for one moment. I can
hear nothing till you do so, and then I will hear anything.'
'Well, what is it?'
We have each of us put something near to £5,000 into this venture.'
'I have put more,' said Scott.
'Very well. But we have each of us withdrawn a sum equal to that I have
named from my ward's fortune for this purpose.'
'I deny that,' said Undy. 'I have taken nothing from your ward's
fortune. I have had no power to do so. You have done as you pleased with
that fortune. But I am ready to admit that I have borrowed £5,000--not
from your ward, but from you.'
Alaric was nearly beside himself; but he still felt that he should have
no chance of carrying his point if he lost his temper.
'That is ungenerous of you, Scott, to say the least of it; but we'll let
that pass. To enable me to lend you the £5,000, and to enable me to join
you in this speculation, £10,000 has been withdrawn from Clementina's
fortune.'
'I know nothing about that,' said Scott.
'Know nothing about it!' said Alaric, looking at him with withering
scorn. But Undy was not made of withering material, and did not care a
straw for his friend's scorn.
'Nothing whatever,' said he.
'Well, so be it,' said Alaric; 'but the fact is, the money has been
withdrawn.'
'I don't doubt that in the least,' said Undy. 'I am not now going to
argue whether the fault has been most mine or yours,' continued Alaric.
'Well, that is kind of you,' said Undy, 'considering that you are the
girl's trustee, and that I have no more to do with it than that fellow
in the wig there.'
'I wish at any rate you would let me explain myself,' said Alaric, who
felt that his patience was fast going, and who could hardly resist the
temptation of seizing his companion by the throat, and punishing him on
the spot for his iniquity.
'I don't prevent you, my dear fellow--only remember this: I will not
permit you to assert, without contradicting you, that I am responsible
for Clem's fortune. Now, go on, and explain away as hard as you like.'
Alaric, under these circumstances, found it not very easy to put what
he had to say into any words that his companion would admit. He fully
intended at some future day to thrust Scott's innocence down his throat,
and tell him that he was not only a thief, but a mean, lying, beggarly
thief. But the present was not the time. Too much depended on his
inducing Undy to act with him.
'Ten thousand pounds has at any rate been taken.'
'That I won't deny.'
'And half that sum has been lent to you.'
'I acknowledge a debt of £5,000.'
'It is imperative that £10,000 should at once be repaid.'
'I have no objection in life.'
'I can sell my shares in the Limehouse bridge,' continued Alaric, 'for
£6,000, and I am prepared to do so.'
'The more fool you,' said Undy,' if you do it; especially as £6,000
won't pay £10,000, and as the same property, if overheld another month
or two, in all probability will do so.'
'I am ready to sacrifice that and more than that,' said Alaric. 'If you
will sell out £4,000, and let me at once have that amount, so as to make
up the full sum I owe, I will make you a free present of the remainder
of the debt. Come, Undy, you cannot but call that a good thing. You will
have pocketed two thousand pounds, according to the present market value
of the shares, and that without the slightest risk.'
Undy for a while seemed staggered by the offer. Whether it was Alaric's
extreme simplicity in making it, or his own good luck in receiving
it, or whether by any possible chance some all but dormant remnant of
feeling within his heart was touched, we will not pretend to say. But
for a while he walked on silent, as though wavering in his resolution,
and looking as if he wished to be somewhat more civil, somewhat less of
the bully, than he had been.
There was no one else to whom Alaric could dare to open his heart on
this subject of his ward's fortune; there was none other but this ally
of his to whom he could confide, whom he could consult. Unpromising,
therefore, though Undy was as a confederate, Alaric, when he thought he
saw this change in his manner, poured forth at once the full tide of his
feelings.
'Undy,' said he, 'pray bear with me a while. The truth is, I cannot
endure this misery any longer. I do not now want to blame anyone but
myself. The thing has been done, and it is useless now to talk of blame.
The thing has been done, and all that now remains for me is to undo it;
to put this girl's money back again, and get this horrid weight from off
my breast.'
'Upon my word, my dear fellow, I did not think that you took it in such
a light as that,' said Undy.
'I am miserable about it,' said Alaric. 'It keeps me awake all night,
and destroys all my energy during the day.'
'Oh, that's all bile,' said Undy. 'You should give up fish for a few
days, and take a blue pill at night.'
'Scott, this money must be paid back at once, or I shall lose my senses.
Fortune has so far favoured me as to enable me to put my hand at once on
the larger portion of it. You must let me have the remainder. In God's
name say that you will do so.'
Undy Scott unfortunately had not the power to do as he was asked.
Whether he would have done so, had he had the power, may be doubtful. He
was somewhat gravelled for an answer to Alaric's earnest supplication,
and therefore made none till the request was repeated.
'In God's name let me have this money,' repeated Alaric. 'You will then
have made two thousand pounds by the transaction.'
'My dear Tudor,' said he, 'your stomach is out of order, I can see it as
well as possible from the way you talk.'
Here was an answer for a man to get to the most earnest appeal which he
could make! Here was comfort for a wretch suffering from fear, remorse,
and shame, as Alaric was suffering. He had spoken of his feelings and
his heart, but these were regions quite out of Undy Scott's cognizance.
'Take a blue pill,' said he, 'and you'll be as right as a trivet in a
couple of days.'
What was Alaric to say? What could he say to a man who at such a crisis
could talk to him of blue pills? For a while he said nothing; but the
form of his face changed, a darkness came over his brow which Scott
had never before seen there, the colour flew from his face, his eyes
sparkled, and a strange appearance of resolute defiance showed itself
round his mouth. Scott began to perceive that his medical advice would
not be taken in good part.
'Scott,' said he, stopping short in his walk and taking hold of the
collar of his companion's coat, not loosely by the button, but with
a firm grip which Undy felt that it would be difficult to shake
off--'Scott, you will find that I am not to be trifled with. You have
made a villain of me. I can see no way to escape from my ruin without
your aid; but by the living God, if I fall, you shall fall with me. Tell
me now; will you let me have the sum I demand? If you do not, I will go
to your brother's wife and tell her what has become of her daughter's
money.'
'You may go to the devil's wife if you like it,' said Undy, 'and tell
her whatever you please.'
'You refuse, then?' said Alaric, still keeping hold of Undy's coat.
'Come, take your hand off,' said Undy. 'You will make me think your head
is wrong as well as your stomach, if you go on like this. Take your hand
off and listen to me. I will then explain to you why I cannot do what
you would have me. Take your hand away, I say; do you not see that
people are looking at us.'
They were now standing at the upper end of the hall--close under the
steps which lead to the Houses of Parliament; and, as Undy said, the
place was too public for a display of physical resentment. Alaric took
his hand away. 'Well,' said he, 'now tell me what is to hinder you from
letting me have the money you owe me?'
'Only this,' said Undy, 'that every share I have in the concern is made
over by way of security to old M'Cleury, and he now holds them. Till I
have redeemed them, I have no power of selling.'
Alaric, when he heard these words, could hardly prevent himself from
falling in the middle of the hall. All his hopes were then over; he had
no chance of shaking this intolerable burden from his shoulders; he
had taken the woman's money, this money which had been entrusted to his
honour and safe-keeping, and thrown it into a bottomless gulf.
'And now listen to me,' said Undy, looking at his watch. 'I must be in
the House in ten or fifteen minutes, for this bill about married women
is on, and I am interested in it: listen to me now for five minutes. All
this that you have been saying is sheer nonsense.'
'I think you'll find that it is not all nonsense,' said Alaric.
'Oh, I am not in the least afraid of your doing anything rash. You'll be
cautious enough I know when you come to be cool; especially if you
take a little physic. What I want to say is this--Clem's money is
safe enough. I tell you these bridge shares will go on rising till the
beginning of next session. Instead of selling, what we should do is to
buy up six or seven thousand pounds more.'
'What, with Clementina's money?'
'It's as well to be hung for a sheep as a lamb. Besides, your doing so
is your only safety. My brother Val insists upon having 250 shares.'
'Your brother Val!' said Alaric.
'Yes, Val; and why shouldn't he? I would give them to him if I could,
but I can't. M'Cleury, as I tell you, has every share of mine in his
possession.'
'Your brother Val wants 250 shares! And does he expect me to give them
to him?'
'Well--I rather think he does. That is, not to give them, of course; you
don't suppose he wants you to make him a present of money. But he wants
you to accommodate him with the price of them. You can either do that,
or let him have so many of your own; it will be as broad as it is long;
and he'll give you his note of hand for the amount.'
Now it was well known among the acquaintance of the Scott family, that
the note of hand of the Honourable Captain Val was not worth the paper
on which it was written.
Alaric was so astonished at this monstrous request, coming as it did
after such a conversation, that he did not well know how to take it.
Was Undy mad, or was he in joke? What man in his senses would think of
lending six or seven hundred pounds to Val Scott! 'I suppose you are in
jest,' said he, somewhat bitterly.
'I never was more in earnest in my life,' said Undy. 'I'll just explain
how the matter is; and as you are sharp enough, you'll see at once that
you had better oblige him. Val, you know, is always hard up; he can't
touch a shilling of that woman's money, and just at present he has none
of his own. So he came to me this morning to raise the wind.'
'And you are kind enough to pass him on to me.'
'Listen a moment. I did not do anything of the kind. I never lend money
to Val. It's a principle with me not to do so, and he knows it.'
'Then just tell him that my principles in this respect are identical
with your own.'
'That's all very well; and you may tell him so yourself, if you like
it; but hear first of all what his arguments are. Of course I told him I
could do nothing for him. 'But,' said he, 'you can get Tudor to do it.'
I told him, of course, that I could do nothing of the kind. 'Oh!' said
Val, 'I know the game you are both playing. I know all about Clem's
money.' Val, you know, never says much. He was playing pool at the
time, at the club; but he came back after his stroke, and whispered to
me--'You and Tudor must let me have 250 of those shares, and then it'll
be all right.' Now Val, you know, is a most determined fellow.
Alaric, when he heard this, looked up into his companion's face to see
whether he was talking to the Evil One himself. Oh, what a net of ruin
was closing round him!--how inextricable were the toils into which he
had fallen!
'After all,' continued Undy,' what he asks is not much, and I really
think you should do it for him. He is quite willing to give you his
assistance at Strathbogy, and he is entitled to some accommodation.'
'Some accommodation!' repeated Alaric, almost lost in the consideration
of his own misery.
'Yes; I really think he is. And, Tudor, you may be sure of this, you
know; you will be quite safe with him. Val is the very soul of honour.
Do this for him, and you'll hear no more about it. You may be quite sure
he'll ask for nothing further, and that he'll never say a word to annoy
you. He's devilish honourable is Val; no man can be more so; though,
perhaps, you wouldn't think it.'
'Devilish honourable!' said Alaric. 'Only he would like to have a
bribe.'
'A bribe!' said Scott. 'Come, my dear fellow, don't you make an ass of
yourself. Val is like the rest of us; when money is going, he likes to
have a share of it. If you come to that, every man who is paid either
for talking or for not talking is bribed.'
'I don't know that I ever heard of a much clearer case of a bribe than
this which you now demand for your brother.'
'Bribe or no bribe,' said Undy, looking at his watch, 'I strongly advise
you to do for him what he asks; it will be better for all of us. And let
me give you another piece of advice: never use hard words among friends.
Do you remember the Mary Janes which Manylodes brought for you in his
pocket to the hotel at Tavistock?' Here Alaric turned as pale as a
spectre. 'Don't talk of bribes, my dear fellow. We are all of us giving
and taking bribes from our cradles to our graves; but men of the world
generally call them by some prettier names. Now, if you are not desirous
to throw your cards up altogether, get these shares for Val, and let him
or me have them to-morrow morning.' And so saying Undy disappeared into
the House, through the side door out of the hall, which is appropriated
to the use of honourable members.
And then Alaric was left alone. He had never hitherto realized the true
facts of the position in which he had placed himself; but now he did so.
He was in the hands of these men, these miscreants, these devils; he was
completely at their mercy, and he already felt that they were as devoid
of mercy as they were of justice. A cold sweat broke out all over him,
and he continued walking up and down the hall, ignorant as to where he
was and what he was doing, almost thoughtless, stunned, as it were, by
his misery and the conviction that he was a ruined man. He had remained
there an hour after Undy had left him, before he roused himself
sufficiently to leave the hall and think of returning home. It was then
seven o'clock, and he remembered that he had asked his cousin to dine
with him. He got into a cab, therefore, and desired to be driven home.
What was he to do? On one point he instantly made up his mind. He would
not give one shilling to Captain Val; he would not advance another
shilling to Undy; and he would at once sell out his own shares, and make
such immediate restitution as might now be in his power. The mention
of Manylodes and the mining shares had come home to him with frightful
reality, and nearly stunned him. What right, indeed, had he to talk of
bribes with scorn--he who so early in his own life had allowed himself
to be bought? How could he condemn the itching palm of such a one as Val
Scott--he who had been so ready to open his own when he had been tempted
by no want, by no poverty?
He would give nothing to Captain Val to bribe him to silence. He knew
that if he did so, he would be a slave for ever. The appetite of such a
shark as that, when once he has tasted blood, is unappeasable. There is
nothing so ruinous as buying the silence of a rogue who has a secret.
What you buy you never possess; and the price that is once paid must
be repaid again and again, as often as the rogue may demand it. Any
alternative must be better than this.
And yet what other alternative was there? He did not doubt that Val,
when disappointed of his prey, would reveal whatever he might know to
his wife, or to his stepson. Then there would be nothing for Alaric but
confession and ruin. And how could he believe what Undy Scott had told
him? Who else could have given information against him but Undy himself?
Who else could have put up so heavily stupid a man as Captain Scott to
make such a demand? Was it not clear that his own colleague, his own
partner, his own intimate associate, Undy Scott himself, was positively
working out his ruin? Where were now his high hopes, where now his seat
in Parliament, his authority at the board, his proud name, his soaring
ambition, his constant watchword? 'Excelsior'--ah me--no! no longer
'Excelsior'; but he thought of the cells of Newgate, of convict prisons,
and then of his young wife and of his baby.
He made an effort to assume his ordinary demeanour, and partially
succeeded. He went at once up to his drawing-room, and there he found
Charley and Gertrude waiting dinner for him; luckily he had no other
guests.
'Are you ill, Alaric?' said Gertrude, directly she saw him.
'Ill! No,' said he; 'only fagged, dearest; fagged and worried, and
badgered and bored; but, thank God, not ill;' and he endeavoured to put
on his usual face, and speak in his usual tone. 'I have kept you waiting
most unmercifully for your dinner, Charley; but then I know you navvies
always lunch on mutton chops.'
'Oh, I am not particularly in a hurry,' said Charley; 'but I deny the
lunch. This has been a bad season for mutton chops in the neighbourhood
of Somerset House; somehow they have not grown this year.'
Alaric ran up to prepare for dinner, and his wife followed him.
'Oh! Alaric,' said she, 'you are so pale: what is the matter? Do tell
me,' and she put her arm through his, took hold of his hand, and looked
up into his face.
'The matter! Nothing is the matter--a man can't always be grinning;'
and he gently shook her off, and walked through their bedroom to his
own dressing-room. Having entered it he shut the door, and then, sitting
down, bowed his head upon a small table and buried it in his hands. All
the world seemed to go round and round with him; he was giddy, and he
felt that he could not stand.
Gertrude paused a moment in the bedroom to consider, and then followed
him. 'What is it you want?' said he, as soon as he heard the handle
turn, 'do leave me alone for one moment. I am fagged with the heat, and
I want one minute's rest.'
'Oh, Alaric, I see you are ill,' said she. 'For God's sake do not send
me from you,' and coming into the room she knelt down beside his chair.
'I know you are suffering, Alaric; do let me do something for you.'
He longed to tell her everything. He panted to share his sorrows with
one other bosom; to have one near him to whom he could speak openly of
everything, to have one counsellor in his trouble. In that moment he all
but resolved to disclose everything to her, but at last he found that he
could not do it. Charley was there waiting for his dinner; and were he
now to tell his secret to his wife, neither of them, neither he nor she,
would be able to act the host or hostess. If done at all, it could not
at any rate be done at the present moment.
'I am better now,' said he, giving a long and deep sigh; and then he
threw his arms round his wife and passionately embraced her. 'My own
angel, my best, best love, how much too good or much too noble you are
for such a husband as I am!'
'I wish I could be good enough for you,' she replied, as she began to
arrange his things for dressing. 'You are so tired, dearest; wash your
hands and come down--don't trouble yourself to dress this evening;
unless, indeed, you are going out again.'
'Gertrude,' said he, 'if there be a soul on earth that has not in it a
spark of what is good or generous, it is the soul of Undy Scott;' and so
saying he began the operations of his toilet.
Now Gertrude had never liked Undy Scott; she had attributed to him
whatever faults her husband might have as a husband; and at the present
moment she was not inclined to fight for any of the Scott family.
'He is a very worldly man, I think,' said she.
'Worldly!--no--but hellish,' said Alaric; 'hellish, and damnable, and
fiendish.'
'Oh, Alaric, what has he done?'
'Never mind; I cannot tell you; he has done nothing. It is not that he
has done anything, or can do anything to me--but his heart--but never
mind--I wish--I wish I had never seen him.'
'Alaric, if it be about money tell me the worst, and I'll bear it
without a murmur. As long as you are well I care for nothing else--have
you given up your place?'
'No, dearest, no; I can keep my place. It is nothing about that. I have
lost no money; I have rather made money. It is the ingratitude of
that man which almost kills me. But come, dearest, we will go down to
Charley. And Gertrude, mind this, be quite civil to Mrs. Val at present.
We will break from the whole set before long; but in the meantime I
would have you be very civil to Mrs. Val.'
And so they went down to dinner, and Alaric, after taking a glass of
wine, played his part almost as though he had no weight upon his soul.
After dinner he drank freely, and as he drank his courage rose. 'Why
should I tell her?' he said to himself as he went to bed. 'The chances
are that all will yet go well.'