WE WON'T SELL BROWNRIGGS.
On the 10th of September the Squire was informed that Ralph Newton
demanded another ten days for his decision, and that he had
undertaken to communicate it by letter on the 20th. The Squire
had growled, thinking that his nephew was unconscionable, and had
threatened to withdraw his offer. The lawyer, with a smile, assured
him that the matter really was progressing very quickly, that things
of that kind could rarely be carried on so expeditiously; and that,
in short, Mr. Newton had no fair ground of complaint. "When a man
pays through the nose for his whistle, he ought to get it!" said the
Squire, plainly showing that his idea as to the price fixed was very
different from that entertained by his nephew. But he did not retract
his offer. He was too anxious to accomplish the purchase to do that.
He would go home, he said, and wait till the 20th. Then he would
return to London. And he did go home.
On the first evening he said very little to his son. He felt that his
son did not quite sympathise with him, and he was sore that it should
be so. He could not be angry with his son. He knew well that this
want of sympathy arose from a conviction on this son's part that, let
what might be done in regard to the property, nothing could make him,
who was illegitimate, capable of holding the position in the country
which of right belonged to Newton of Newton. But the presence of this
feeling in the mind of the son was an accusation against himself
which was very grievous to him. Almost every act of his latter
life had been done with the object of removing the cause for such
accusation. To make his boy such as he would have been in every
respect had not his father sinned in his youth, had been the one
object of the father's life. And nobody gainsayed him in this but
that son himself. Nobody told him that all his bother about the
estate was of no avail. Nobody dared to tell him so. Parson Gregory,
in his letters to his brother, could express such an opinion. Sir
Thomas, sitting alone in his chamber, could feel it. Ralph, the
legitimate heir, with an assumed scorn, could declare to himself
that, let what might be sold, he would still be Newton of Newton. The
country people might know it, and the farmers might whisper it one
to another. But nobody said a word of this to the Squire. His own
lawyer never alluded to such a matter, though it was of course in his
thoughts. Nevertheless, the son, whom he loved so well, would tell
him from day to day,--indirectly, indeed, but with words that were
plain enough,--that the thing was not to be done. Men and women
called him Newton, because his father had chosen so to call him;--as
they would have called him Tomkins or Montmorenci, had he first
appeared before them with either of those names; but he was not a
Newton, and nothing could make him Newton of Newton Priory,--not even
the possession of the whole parish, and an habitation in the Priory
itself. "I wish you wouldn't think about it," the son would say to
the father;--and the expression of such a wish would contain the
whole accusation. What other son would express a desire that the
father would abstain from troubling himself to leave his estate
entire to his child?
On the morning after his return the necessary communication was made.
But it was not commenced in any set form. The two were out together,
as was usual with them, and were on the road which divided the two
parishes, Bostock from Newton. On the left of them was Walker's farm,
called the Brownriggs; and on the right, Darvell's farm, which was in
their own peculiar parish of Newton. "I was talking to Darvell while
you were away," said Ralph.
"What does he say for himself?"
"Nothing. It's the old story. He wants to stay, though he knows he'd
be better away."
"Then let him stay. Only I must have the place made fit to look at. A
man should have a chance of pulling through."
"Certainly, sir. I don't want him to go. I was only thinking it would
be better for his children that there should be a change. As for
making the place fit to look at, he hasn't the means. It's Walker's
work, at the other side, that shames him."
"One can't have Walkers on every farm," said the Squire. "No;--if
things go, as I think they will go, we'll pull down every stick and
stone at Brumby's,"--Brumby's was the name of Darvell's farm,--"and
put it up all ship-shape. The house hasn't been touched these twenty
years." Ralph said nothing. He knew well that his father would not
talk of building unless he intended to buy before he built. Nothing
could be more opposed to the Squire's purposes in life than the idea
of building a house which, at his death, would become the property of
his nephew. And, in this way, the estate was being starved. All this
Ralph understood thoroughly; and, understanding it, had frequently
expressed a desire that his father and the heir could act in accord
together. But now the Squire talked of pulling down and building
up as though the property were his own, to do as he liked with it.
"And I think I can do it without selling Brownriggs," continued
the Squire. "When it came to black and white, the value that he
has in it doesn't come to so much as I thought." Still Ralph said
nothing,--nothing, at least, as to the work that had been done
up in London. He merely made some observation as to Darvell's
farm;--suggesting that a clear half year's rent should be given to
the man. "I have pretty well arranged it all in my mind," continued
the Squire. "We could part with Twining. It don't lie so near as
Brownriggs."
Ralph felt that it would be necessary that he should say something.
"Lord Fitzadam would be only too glad to buy it. He owns every acre
in the parish except Ingram's farm."
"There'll be no difficulty about selling it,--when we have the power
to sell. It'll fetch thirty years' purchase. I'd give thirty years'
purchase for it, at the present rent myself, if I had the money.
Lord Fitzadam shall have it, if he pleases, of course. There's four
hundred acres of it."
"Four hundred and nine," said Ralph.
"And it's worth over twelve thousand pounds. It would have gone
against the grain with me to part with any of the land in Bostock;
but I think we can squeeze through without that."
"Is it arranged, sir?" asked the son at last.
"Well;--no; I can't say it is. He is to give me his answer on the
20th. But I cannot see that he has any alternative. He must pay his
debts, and he has no other way of paying them. He must live, and he
has nothing else to live on. A fellow like that will have money,
if he can lay his hands on it, and he can't lay his hands on it
elsewhere. Of course he could get money; but he couldn't get it on
such terms as I have offered him. He is to have down thirty thousand
pounds, and then,--after that,--I am to pay him whatever more than
that they may think the thing is worth to him. Under no circumstances
is he to have less. It's a large sum of money, Ralph."
"Yes, indeed;--though not so much as you had expected, sir."
"Well,--no; but then there are drawbacks. However, I shall only be
too glad to have it settled. I don't think, Ralph, you have ever
realised what it has been for me not to be able to lay out a shilling
on the property, as to which I was not satisfied that I should see it
back again in a year or two."
"And yet, sir, I have thought much about it."
"Thought! By heavens, I have thought of nothing else. As I stand
here, the place has hardly been worth the having to me, because of
such thinking. Your uncle, from the very first, was determined to
make it bitter enough. I shall never forget his coming to me when I
cut down the first tree. Was I going to build houses for a man's son
who begrudged me the timber I wanted about the place?"
"He couldn't stop you there."
"But he said he could,--and he tried. And if I wanted to change a
thing here or there, was it pleasant, do you think, to have to go to
him? And what pleasure could there be in doing anything when another
was to have it all? But you have never understood it, Ralph. Well;--I
hope you'll understand it some day. If this goes right, nobody shall
ever stop you in cutting a tree. You shall be free to do what you
please with every sod, and every branch, and every wall, and every
barn. I shall be happy at last, Ralph, if I think that you can enjoy
it." Then there was again a silence, for tears were in the eyes both
of the father and of the son. "Indeed," continued the Squire, as he
rubbed the moisture away, "my great pleasure, while I remain, will be
to see you active about the place. As it is now, how is it possible
that you should care for it?"
"But I do care for it, and I think I am active about it."
"Yes,--making money for that idiot, who is to come after me. But I
don't think he ever will come. I dare say he won't be ashamed to
shoot your game and drink your claret, if you'll allow him. For the
matter of that, when the thing is settled he may come and drink
my wine if he pleases. I'll be his loving uncle then, if he don't
object. But as it is now;--as it has been, I couldn't have borne
him."
Even yet there had been no clear statement as to what had been done
between father and son. There was so much of clinging, trusting,
perfect love in the father's words towards the son, that the latter
could not bear to say a word that should produce sorrow. When the
Squire declared that Ralph should have it all, free,--to do just as
he pleased with it, with all the full glory of ownership, Ralph could
not bring himself to throw a doubt upon the matter. And yet he did
doubt;--more than doubted;--felt almost certain that his father was
in error. While his father had remained alone up in town he had been
living with Gregory, and had known what Gregory thought and believed.
He had even seen his namesake's letter to Gregory, in which it was
positively stated that the reversion would not be sold. Throughout
the morning the Squire went on speaking of his hopes, and saying that
this and that should be done the very moment that the contract was
signed; at last Ralph spoke out, when, on some occasion, his father
reproached him for indifference. "I do so fear that you will be
disappointed," he said.
"Why should I be disappointed?"
"It is not for my own sake that I fear, for in truth the arrangement,
as it stands, is no bar to my enjoyment of the place."
"It is a most absolute bar to mine," said the Squire.
"I fear it is not settled."
"I know that;--but I see no reason why it should not be settled. Do
you know any reason?"
"Gregory feels sure that his brother will never consent."
"Gregory is all very well. Gregory is the best fellow in the world.
Had Gregory been in his brother's place I shouldn't have had a
chance. But Gregory knows nothing about this kind of thing, and
Gregory doesn't in the least understand his brother."
"But Ralph has told him so."
"Ralph will say anything. He doesn't mind what lies he tells."
"I think you are too hard on him," said the son.
"Well;--we shall see. But what is it that Ralph has said? And when
did he say it?" Then the son told the father of the short letter
which the parson had received from his brother, and almost repeated
the words of it. And he told the date of the letter, only a day or
two before the Squire's return. "Why the mischief could he not be
honest enough to tell me the same thing, if he had made up his mind?"
said the Squire, angrily. "Put it how you will, he is lying either
to me or to his brother;--probably to both of us. His word either on
one side or on the other is worth nothing. I believe he will take my
money because he wants money, and because he likes money. As for what
he says, it is worth nothing. When he has once written his name, he
cannot go back from it, and there will be comfort in that." Ralph
said nothing more. His father had talked himself into a passion, and
was quite capable of becoming angry, even with him. So he suggested
something about the shooting for next day, and proposed that the
parson should be asked to join them. "He may come if he likes," said
the Squire, "but I give you my word if this goes on much longer, I
shall get to dislike even the sight of him." On that very day the
parson dined with them, and early in the evening the Squire was cold,
and silent, and then snappish. But he warmed afterwards under the
double influence of his own port-wine, and the thorough sweetness of
his nephew's manner. His last words as Gregory left him that night in
the hall were as follows:--"Bother about the church. I'm half sick of
the church. You come and shoot to-morrow. Don't let us have any new
fads about not shooting."
"There are no new fads, uncle Greg, and I'll be with you by twelve
o'clock," said the parson.
"He is very good as parsons go," said the Squire as he shut the door.
"He's as good as gold," said the Squire's son.